Police absence causes lift in crime to spike

YOUNG people including students are involved in drugs and alcohol in Situm, Nawaeb, Morobe, because of the lack of police visibility.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Northern Command Peter Guinness said there should be a police unit based there. The unit which was based there had to be relocated because of administration issues.
“We will have to re-establish another unit and that may include police reservists and auxiliary officers,” he said. They have been trying to set up a police barracks at Situm for the provincial police command.
Guinness said this was to move the command away from the city to have more police presence in local communities. “When we have police officers based at the community level, we will have sufficient policing within the area,” he said.
There is a mixture of people living at Situm from different parts of the country and the potential of law and order problems is very high.
Guinness called on the Nawaeb MP and other leaders to see that a police station is established at Situm immediately.