Community policing making headway in WHP

Highlands, Normal

COMMUNITY policing officers in Western Highlands province are visiting tribal fighting areas to carry out awareness and workshops to completely eradicate tribal fights.
Officer-in-charge of the community policing division Sgt Susan Mondia and two officers had been visiting Tambul-Nebilyer, Mul-Baiyer and Dei districts since October, educating leaders and youths about the dangers of tribal fights.
Sgt Mondia said her team targeted these districts because they were well-known for tribal fights.
She said they visited the districts in order to get the message across to the bulk of people instead of calling the leaders into a central place like Mt Hagen to talk to them.
Sgt Mondia said the communities accepted them and were eager to learn about law and how they were going to go about addressing social issues within their communities instead of resorting to fights as the only way to solve their problems.
She said during the workshops and awareness, her team also educated the people about domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, violence against women and people’s rights.
She said her team would also visit other areas next year but this would depend on the availability of funds.
Sgt Mondia said currently there was no funding to carry out these activities.
She said community policing was one of the police force’s major objectives but no funds had been made available to them and this was a set back.