Not fair on police mobile units

Editorial, Normal

POLICE officers providing security at the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project sites in the Hela region have been kicked out of guest houses and lodges for non-payment of their bills.
That, at least, is the reason we have for the withdrawal of more than 250 members of the police mobile squad (MS) from areas where they have been providing security for the LNG project early works at Nogoli Hides gas field, the Komo LNG township and international airport development at Tari and Komo.
All these members withdrew to the provincial capital in Mendi last weekend after they were thrown out of their respective accommodation places.
That is a shame.
We wonder who is responsible for paying the bills: police HQ, each provincial commander, the commanding officer of each squad, the provincial government or ExxonMobil, the developer of the LNG?
Rather confusing state of affairs we have here.
Whoever is responsible, this is an open invitation for trouble with a capital “T”, given the explosive nature of landowner issues surrounding the project at this stage.
Indeed, following the withdrawal of the mobile squad members, there are reports of criminal activities flaring up in different parts of Hela.
It might as well be that funds allocated for the purpose have been exhausted way ahead of time as these things normally tend to happen. If that has happened, then we ask who has been busy overspending yet again.
Time and again we have raised the issue of the police force condoning other parties to pay police members extra allowances outside of their pay and normal police allowances to perform duties such as protection of resource projects of this kind.
It does not seem right that provincial governments, members of parliament, business entities or any other group should be asked to pay for protection which is the constitutional role of the police force, anyway.
Sure, if the risk is multiplied or the duties are risky, pay the police personnel a higher allowance, but always through the police budget.
To have some other organisation or individual, whether political or otherwise, pay the police is just plain wrong.
Our concern in this particular case is related, but of a rather different kind.
If 250 members of the mobile squad are involved in protecting lives and property in this one project, who is left to protect the rest of Papua New Guinea should any law and order challenges come up in other parts of the country?
Mobile squads are stationed strategically in trouble prone areas of the country.
Many of those, we understand, have now been deployed for LNG duties. The PNG police force is mandated by law to protect PNG lives and property. To take them away from this duty would seem to be an abrogation of a primary duty of the police.
Apart from its own MS10, Mendi is manned by MS unit 05 from Mt Hagen while Moro is looked after by MS07 from Mt Hagen, the air tactical unit (ATU) and a section of MS10.
Tari has its own MS09 as well as a contingent from MS03 from McGregor barracks in Port Moresby and MS18 from Tomaringa in East New Britain.
Komo, host of the LNG international airport and township, is looked after by MS12 from Laiagam in Enga.
This is a depletion of a large part of the mobile force that is able to respond quickly to problems across the country.
The government and the police high command will have to explain to the public this silent siphoning off of police manpower and leaving people exposed in a country where law and order problems are rampant.
The rub in all this is that, anticipating such problems, the LNG developer had been pressing to bring in and employ its own security forces drawn from its projects around the world.
The government had insisted that the Royal PNG Constabulary would be sufficient and would do the job.
Now, we have come to this, perhaps, it is not too late for the project to think about reverting to its plans to bring in its own security. If that happened, you can be sure there would be no question of anyone being chucked out for non-payment of bills, the project sites would be adequately protected and, more especially, the entire country would not be exposed.