NCD-Central police chief says ops normal

By GRACE AUKA
POLICE stations in the capital city are adequately manned, according to police commander Francis Tokura.
Tokura, who is in charge of the National Capital District and Central, denied that some of the stations were closed after a protest by police officers who were assaulted by their comrades from another unit last Monday.
The officers had threatened to stop work and leave all the stations unmanned if their bosses failed to do anything about those who assaulted them.
Tokura and his officers toured the stations yesterday to ensure they were manned.
“I deny that policemen in the NCD have stopped working. Policemen are at work today,” he said.
“The policemen in NCD have not stopped working.
“The majority of them are on duty.”
The National also visited the police stations and found officers manning them with some attending to general duties.
Some police officers from the group who were assaulted on Monday were still at the Gordon police barracks yesterday as they awaited a response from the senior police hierarchy on their grievances.
In the meantime, five police officers have been charged over the assault and more could be arrested soon as investigations into the confrontation continued.
Three of them were from the air transport unit near Bomana while two were part of the mobile squad deployed from Mt Hagen recently to help monitor the law and order situation in Port Moresby.