Police administration gets tough on rogue cops

POLICE are clamping down hard on ill-discipline within the Royal PNG Constabulary and will hold rogue officers accountable for their actions, Deputy Police Commissioner Tom Kulunga said yesterday.
His comments come in the wake of disciplinary action against Const Simon Bernard, a member of the special services division, who was found guilty of three charges relating to the mistreatment of his wife.
Bernard, who was dismissed from the police force last month, was among more than 100 police personnel who were investigated for criminal offences in the past 12 months.
Kulunga said a report from the police internal affairs directorate showed that 10 police were dismissed, 12 were demoted, 13 were fined and 51 suspended as a result of misconduct-related offences – both serious and minor – for the first five months of this year.
“Although statistics indicate that there were 167 serious and 10 minor offences, it is the belief of the internal affairs directorate that these statistics are unreliable and well below the real total,” he said.
“The report was compiled using information obtained from the internal affairs directorate database and monthly reports submitted from the provinces, directorates and commands.”
Kulunga said of those suspended, most were reinstated during the reporting period.
“While these statistics continue to paint a gloomy picture of the constabulary and calls for urgent change and reform within the system, it demonstrates that the hierarchy of the constabulary is serious about maintaining discipline, command and control and committed to plucking out the rotten apple,”  he said.
Kulunga said Police Commissioner Tony Wagambie had declared this year the year of discipline and insisted that the police hierarchy stood united with him in ensuring that the constabulary was transformed into a disciplined and professional organisation.
“We will not tolerate undisciplined, abusive, corrupt and unprofessional policemen and women,” he said.
So far this year, the internal investigation unit had received 66 complaints against police, of which 15 of the 53 investigated were cleared while 15 were pending in court.
Kulunga said: “Assaults and improper conduct continue to be the most prevalent types of offences detected during the reporting period.
“This ongoing trend reflects poorly on the supervisors in the constabulary and their inability to guide and model ethical behaviour.”
He said many of these offences “are linked to alcohol consumption”.