Eight policemen suspended without pay over protest

EIGHT policemen in Tabubil, Western have been suspended for 21 days without pay for protesting over their accommodation along with wives and children, a senior officer says.
Assistant Commissioner of Police for Border Command Peter Philip said the policemen allegedly breached protocol required for the use of specific police facilities and equipment.
“They organised and facilitated an act of insubordination by a sit-in protest, brought in their wives and children to address the issue of accommodation without following the protocol of addressing their grievances,” Philip said.
He said the new single quarters in Tabubil were only for police personnel to sleep in and work and not for them to bring in their families to live there.
He said the suspended police officers were restricted from visiting any established police facilities and or have access to police vehicles and any police communication network until all investigations were completed.
“You are to obey and conform to your suspension until further notice,” he said.
Philip said it was an embarrassment to see policemen and their wives looking untidy and scruffy.
“It was unethical of policemen sitting in front of the police station office door with their mouth full of betel nuts as if they were in a market place,” he said.