Police chief issues gag order

THE police hierarchy will now take disciplinary action against any unauthorised member of the constabulary who comments on operational and administrative aspects of policing in both the social and mainstream media.
A directive has been issued by Police Commissioner Gari Baki to the constabulary to refrain from commenting in the media.
Police media in a statement said the Police Force Act and the Constabulary Standing Orders (CSO) did not allow members of the constabulary to comment in the mainstream or social media or create blogs purposely to discuss police administrative and operational issues.
It said police officers were also not authorised to comment on matters of a political nature or partake in other media forums considered to be detrimental to the command and control of the constabulary.
The commissioner said only the top management consisting of himself and the deputy commissioners (operations and administration) were authorised to comment on matters, including policy issues.
Divisional commanders and provincial police commanders are authorised to talk to the media but only regarding operational matters within their command, Baki said.
“This is very explicitly stated in the Constabulary’s Media Policy which is contained in the CSO,” Baki said, adding that blog sites or Facebook pages with the name “police”, “Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary”, the initials “RPNGC” or the police logo could only be created with the express approval of the commissioner.
Baki has now issued a directive for all Facebook pages and blog sites with the name “police”, “Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary”, the initials “RPNGC” and the police logo to be removed immediately.
“Disciplinaryor criminal action will be taken on the administrators of these pages and members of the RPNGC who are found breaching this order,” Baki said.
The only official Facebook page authorised and sanctioned by the police commissioner to disseminate media statements and information is the RPNGC page created and managed by the police media unit.