The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) will work closely with the Bougainville Police Service and the New Zealand Police, to fully implement the Community Auxiliary Police Program in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
Papua New Guinea’s Police Commissioner, Gary Baki, acknowledged the assistane of the New Zealand Police in strengthening policing in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Baki also told EMTV News in Buka that a monitoring evaluation committee has been created to provide strategic guidelines.
This week, Commissioner Baki met with the New Zealand Police and discussed the Community Auxiliary Police Program’s way forward.
“Despite of the fact that we know that the New Zealand police have been helping Bougainville in the development of the Community Auxiliary Police program, the RPNGC does not have much visibility,”
“It has been rearranged now with RPNGC having some visibility on it, let alone the fact that it supports Bougainville in its development agenda, to be adequately resourced,” Baki said.
Baki says that the number of community police in Bougainville is larger than the regular police.
Therefore the police agenda to serve Bougainville in terms of law and order issues is covered in dual arrangements.
“Because it’s so successful in the fact that it is supported by the New Zealand Government, it creates this position where, how can we adequately transfer these program back to the Autonomous Bougainville Government to take over,”
“And I am happy to know that specific funding, been made available and the responsibility has now been shifted away from the New Zealand, to the Autonomous Bougainville Government to look after this program,”
“But in order for it to be successful, we have to look at the links, between the community auxiliary police program and the regular policing so it comes under the control of the Chief of the Bougainville Police Service,” Baki said.
Meanwhile RPNGC’s meeting with the Bougainville Police Service and the New Zealand Police sets the future direction in the absorbing of the community auxiliary police into the regular police.
This will then provide comprehensive policing arrangements, preparing Bougainville for its referendum come 2019.
