Crime fighting in SHP limited

POLICE cannot respond to all law and order situations in some remote districts of the Southern Highlands because the areas are only accessible by air, a senior officer said.
“Police are not able to travel into such areas although crimes are frequently being committed there and suspects and law breakers were still roaming around free,” provincial police commander, Teddy Tei said on Tuesday in relation to a murder case in the Last Wiru area of Pangia.
He said Kipa Laima, 28, from Mamuane village, had been arguing over the ownership of a pig with his elder sister, Cathy, last Saturday, when she chopped his leg with a bush knife.
Laima died from loss of blood.
Tei said the suspect was still free because police could not travel into the area.
He said they had been unable to fly a medical officer into the area to conduct a post-mortem examination.
Tei said several murders had taken place in remote parts of Pangia that police had been unable to attend to.
Tei said the helicopter often used for such situations had been grounded few years ago.
He is now calling for support from the local MP Peter O’Neill and the district administration to help out.
Tei asked local leaders to surrender suspects in murder cases to Pangia police station so that the law could serve its purpose.
Tei said so far, Koroba Lake Kopiago MP John Kekeno had been supportive of police operations in remote areas in his electorate by providing helicopters and funds to transport police personnel.
He said Governor Anderson Agiru had also helped police in the province and Hela region, while Kagua Erave MP James Lagea and Nipa Kutubu MP Philemon Embel had thrown in their support.