Police Commissioner, David Manning, has called for legislative changes to allow for the death penalty to be imposed on people to kill police personnel.
His call comes after the fatal shooting of a constable attached with the Special Services Division (SSD) deployed to Pogera, Enga Province.
It is understood Constable Timot Kavanamur was killed during an attack by armed criminals who travel between the Hela and Enga Provinces.
“The death penalty must be imposed on anyone who kills a policeman. I am therefore calling upon our legislators to take this into consideration and amend or enact appropriate laws to serve as deterrent to such criminal behavior.
“The suspect who killed the policeman is known. We know who he is and we know his associates. We will find them,” Manning said.
On the first week of January, two mobile squad members were also shot in Pogera in a separate incident. Towards the end of 2019, a mobile section commander was shot and killed in Tari. The killing of Constable Kavanamur is a latest of a string of attacks of police officers all over the country.
“PNG is becoming a very dangerous country for policemen to work in and their safety and protection is very critical to ensuring that they can go out and continue to protect and serve the 8 million people of PNG.
“I will be meeting the Police Minister tomorrow where I will be putting a number of recommendations for him to take up with the Prime Minister and the National Executive Council. It is now time for some tough decisions to be made. Enough is enough.”
Manning has announced that a special charter to Pogera will take the Acting Deputy Commissioner Operations Donald Yamasombi, Assistant Commissioner Operations Samson Kua and Director Special Services Division Superintendent Julius Tasion to Porgera to assess the situation.
They will then recommend the next course of action.
By Scott Waide, EMTV News, Lae
