Apec escorts boost skills with assistance from Aussie police

Police motorcyclists who will be escorting VIPs during the Apec meeting next year have acquired new skills from the Australian Federal Police.
Royal PNG Constabulary training inspector, Michael Smith told The National yesterday at the traffic motorcade graduation in Port Moresby that the purpose of training the riders was to equip them with the skills needed to escort VIPs and the 21 world leaders during the Apec meeting.
“The skills acquired here will be applied to at the Apec meeting, purposely for motorcade escorts for foreign dignitaries who will be coming in,” said Smith.
The eight officers graduated after a three-week training.  The constabulary is seeking to recruit and train a maximum of 80 riders.
“They did an assessment which was managed by us (RPNGC Traffic Motorcade Department) and what was witnessed here today was a skills assessment, where they have passed, before they could come join the course.
“So it’s basically a skills course, going through cones, passing and brake handling, and also have basic handling skills for them to carry out motorcade operations,” said smith.
“These particular riders had motorcycle riding abilities so we just developed and enhanced their skills, and trained them for motorcade operations,” said smith.
Smith also mentioned that there were three stages of training the riders.
“There are qualified riders, intermediate riders which are people who are learning to ride, and beginners, these are people who have never ridden.  We assess them, identify their skills and try to push them to balance their riding
skills. So it is like a chain of production.”
The graduation was also witnessed by New Zealand High Commissioner Sue Mackwell and other senior officers of the RPNGC.
Mackwell said it was great to see the riders do so well on their bikes, and added that it was all about preparing for the Apec meeting, which was only a few months away.
“The Apec conference is only a few months away, and it is good to see you gearing up for it.  It is also great to see the first group of riders ready to go, so congratulations to you all.”
Acting Commissioner for Police Traffic, Chief Supt Joe Poma, who also attended the graduation, said it was the first such training for traffic motorcade operations since the late 80’s and the early 90’s.