By Theckla Gunga – EM TV News, Port Moresby
Over 200 new police recruits have begun their path towards starting a police career, at the Bomana Police College in the capital.
Under the Police Modernisation Program, these recruits are part of the government’s aim to increase police manpower from the current number 6,000, to 1,000,000 by 2017.
This is the second batch of 2015’s new recruits who will graduate into the force in May next year.
Police Commissioner, Gari Baki, who officiated at the start of the training, emphasised the need for the new recruits to adopt a disciplined lifestyle.
Baki said police officers are judged on the kind of principles they live.
“People always ask where police officers get their training from, and often times they blame it on Bomana Training College,” Commissioner Baki said.
“However that is not true, because I graduated from the same college,” Baki added.
Over the years, the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary has come under public scrutiny because of a lack of discipline and abuse of power by police officers in Papua New Guinea.
Following this, the training college has come down hard on new recruits to maintain a disciplined lifestyle once they graduate into the force.
Since 2014, new recruits have been undergoing practical training under the Australia-PNG Policing Partnership Program to prepare them for police career.
