Govt urged to bring back Vagrancy Act to help police fight crime

By ELIAS LARI
THE Government is being asked to reintroduce the Vagrancy Act to give police more powers to control the influx of people into cities and fight crime.
He said the law would also help protect people who work in the towns and cities.
Mt Hagen acting deputy city manager Robert Romba has made the call because he said his 32-strong city force had been struggling to contain crime in the city.
Romba said Mt Hagen was the third major centre in the country and the centre for the Highlands region.
He said law and order problems in neighbouring Hela, Southern Highlands and Enga were forcing people to go into Mt Hagen for banking, shopping, education and medical needs.
Romba said that in a day up to between 4000 and 5000 people would enter the city, far too many people for his team to manage.
“We have populations at China Town and at Hela, Southern Highlands and Enga bus stops and at the main bus stop located at the main market,” he said.