Constant police reshuffles must stop

Letters, Normal
Source:

The National,Wednesday 07th December 2011

THE continuous reshuffles in the police hierarchy have caused the entire force to lose their focus in providing security, maintaining law and order, and securing peace in our society for the good of our citizens.
It is a constitutional right for every citizen, regardless of colour, race and ethnicity that their security and safety are guaranteed.
They should be free from any form of intimidation by anyone.
As a result, opportunists are taking advantage of this instability to spread fear and limit the movement of innocent people.
Let me justify my claim.
The recent example is the ethnic clash between Morobeans and highlanders in Lae which almost forced the government to declare a state of emergency.
A leader claimed the recent change in Lae’s police chief is not good for Morobeans as this might cause further tension. 
In the nation’s capital, the anti-Asian feeling has yet to be quelled with locals claiming that cottage businesses should be run by them.
Some people even claimed it was a plot by the previous opposition (now in government) to oust the Somare regime and that the police took sides.
This has caused many genuine Asian investors and other local business owners to lose their confidence in our police force which had failed to respond immediately to stop the anti-Asian sentiments.
Our dailies always carry reports about robberies, murders, rapes and drug traffickers.
Are the police taking any action to address these social issues?
We have not seen our police taking drastic measures and many people have taken the law into their own hands.
If some people have no regard for the rule of the law, then who will protect our people from harms and all forms of intimidation?
Now let me paint the bigger picture on disunity within the police hierarchy.
It has been attributed to the changes in government and cheap politics being played along the corridors of parliament.
Our naive politicians are the ones who are dismantling our social fabric.
Now that election is just around the corner, many of them are manipulating the police hierarchy to serve their interests, ignoring the fact that such moves would increase internal politics with the RPNGC and ultimately lead to an increase of disunity among police personnel.
As a result, many police officers have shown their frustration by not following orders.
In a nutshell, it is the change in go­vernment that led to the appointment of a new police commissioner, which led to the reshuffles causing many police officers to lose their focus.
To prevent this from happening again, I suggest the appointment of the commissioner be made by an act of parliament.

Manol M
Via email