Police constables soaking in Honiara lessons to pass on

By ISAIAH IGISH in Honiara
TEN police officers from Bougainville are part of the Papua New Guinea police contingent providing security at the 17th Pacific Games in Honiara.
Operating under PNG contingent commander Chief Supt John Sagom, the Bougainville crew of six men and four women led by Inspector Jacqueline Pais Virani are among the 100-member contingent from PNG.
They are mainly involved in crowd control and venue operations, with police personnel from the Solomon Islands, Australia and New Zealand.
Senior Constables Lawrence Pereriva and Simeo Peinomu are two of the Arawa-based policemen who are stationed at the Lawson Tama Oval and the Honiara City Council Hall using this international deployment to learn as much skills as they can.
Married with four children and from Hahon, Selau Constituency in West Coast Bougainville, Pereriva has been working as a policeman for 19 years and is currently based in Arawa, Central Bougainville. This is his first overseas deployment.
“I’ve learnt a lot of things with the international deployment contingent with Australian Federal Police (AFP),” Pereriva said.

“The experience I gain here will help enhance the Bougainville Police Service.
“There are some things I see here which are done in Bougainville which is not correct. We’ll make some improvements from there going forward.
“I’m engaged in venue management and crowd control for the two venues – Lawson Tama Oval and HCC Multipurpose Hall.”
With Bougainville’s push for independence, Pereriva said the exposure was necessary to help policing in the autonomous region.
“I’ve receive exposure from the AFP and the Chinese and Solomons police during the Pacific Games,” he said.
“In the event Bougainville gains independence, I will impart the experience I gain here with fellow colleagues in Bougainville in improve policing in major events.
“Some things I learn here are crowd control, take note of the crowd of anything that maybe a threat to the public and players.
“We have to secure the venues before players and spectators come to make sure there are no threats, bombs or weapons.
“Security-wise, we have to check the public while they come in so anything that may threaten or injure anybody during the Games is seized and disposed of.
“We sign in at 6am, we come in with the AFP for a briefing – reflect on what good we have done the previous day and improve on our weakness.

“ Some things I learn here are crowd control, take note of the crowd of anything that maybe a threat to the public and players.

“After briefing we secure the venues. We report every hour to our operations command on what’s happening at the venues. The number of the crowd and the teams that are playing.
“We receive schedule of sports at venues on which teams are competing.
“So far there have been no challenges because security is tight on the ground. When security is tight, the public will behave. It has been good so far since day one.
“Just like in Bougainville, the people here are supporting sports. One good thing here is they respect players and officials.
“Anything happening on the field is left on the field, unlike us sometimes we like to control decisions of the match officials which is not good. Something we need to improve on.”
Pereriva said the public was behaving and cooperating with them.
“Because we are Melanesians, we speak the common language tok pisin. They understand PNG police more than English-speaking countries.
“PNG police go to hotspot areas and have a good public relationship with people on the ground. They are happy to see PNG police and welcome us in areas in the community.”
Senior Constable Peinomu, who is the officer-in-charge of criminal investigation division in Arawa, said crowd control was a challenge but part of policing.
“I’m happy to be part of the contingent to Honiara. It is the first time for me to be deployed on overseas engagement,” he said.
“We ensure the safety of players and spectators are guaranteed so they concentrate of competing and cheering.”
Peinomu is married with four children and is from Oria village in Wissai, Konnou constituency in South Bougainville.
Wissai is a challenging area in terms of policing and Peinomu hopes he can use his experience here to help make changes in his community.
“It’s a headache (in Wissai). Solomon Islanders are like Papua New Guineans. I hope our people in Wissai will change.
“They are good people but need a change of mindset (because of the civil war). We need outside influence to change the mindset. They are not exposed to outside cultures and that’s why change is at a snail’s pace.
“The experience here has also broadened my mindset. It’s a lifetime experience for me.
“Our cultural belief system has contributed to little exposure.”
Dressing is different here in Honiara. There are different groups of people attending the Pacific Games in Honiara – Polynesians, Micronesians and us Melanesians.
“We Melanesians have a different style of dressing, Polynesians are different. We’re not going to be exposed to these sort of changing trend if we live only in the village.
The non-commissioned officer said working with regional counterparts was most beneficial for them.