Morobe’s Provincial Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Augustine Wampe, has confirmed that they are yet to make many arrests relating to crimes committed in the rural districts of the province.
Wampe said that although they have been getting reports from officers on the ground, they have not arrested suspects involved.
He added most of these cases are pending investigation.
According to the daily situation report received, in the last 24 hours there have been five major incidents reported to police.
These offences include breaking and entering, grievous bodily harm, arson and wounding.
The situation report also states that there has not been any arrests made on any of the cases leaving most of the incident investigations pending.
Wampe says investigations carried out on these cases are still pending, due to the limited number of officers on the ground.
Police manpower in the nine districts of Morobe province is still not enough to tackle the province’s high crime rate.
Wampe says crime is an everyday occurrence, but when it comes to policing, they need to get more bodies on the ground to address the issues.
The Morobe Provincial Police Command has 127 officers policing a population of more than 500,000.
Wampe said apart from Bulolo and Lae, most of the other districts have only one or two police officers.
Fewer boots on the ground is resulting in an increasing number of crimes being committed every week.
