Logistical issues a barrier for police working in Western

By JACKLYN SIRIAS
LOGISTIC issues have made it difficult for police in Western to respond to issues around the province, says provincial commander Supt Joseph Puri.
He told The National that it was difficult to carry out policing services all over the province as their communities were scattered and far from each other.
“It is very difficult to respond to issues all over the province, they are so remote and isolated,” Puri said.
He said from time to time when they managed to have a bit of fuel, they tried to hire dinghies or use their own dinghies to go down and up the Fly River to attend to some law-and-order issues and complaints.
Puri commended the assistance of community leaders and people along the Fly and other villages who usually supported them with reports of incidents happening in their areas and urged them to continue the good work.
“We are down with logistics on terms of responding to issues and complaints by people in remote parts of the province,” Puri said.
He said the current logistics that they were using were old and some of them worn out.
Puri said they were donated by their provincial government, former MPs and the Ok Tedi Mining “quite some years back”.
“We really need to beef this area up. As we speak, we really have no vehicle and we cannot patrol outside Kiunga, Tabubil and Ningrum town which are quite a distance from each other,” he said.
Puri said most of the time, they only responded to issues within their reach as mobility was their main challenge.
“We have made requests to the provincial administration to assist in this festive period after the launch of our Christmas and
New Year operations last Wednesday.”
Puri said that would depend on the availability of funds at the provincial level.