Police need resources to keep us safe

POLICE in Port Moresby say five men who were planning a hold-up were captured last week by a foot patrol.
That is one of the many positive feedbacks from the foot patrols that police have introduced in the city.
During the patrols, police found that many vehicles providing a taxi service were operating with fake registration and without a licence.
Police impounded 20 vehicles at Gerehu and 15 at Morata because those vehicles either did have the same engine number as the number on their registration sticker, or they were PMVs that did not have proper safety stickers, or were using a fake number plate, or were stolen.
When National Capital District Metropolitan Superintendent Perou N’Dranou took office last year he wanted, among other things, to bring back the foot patrols to get police back on the street and into neighbourhoods.
In police terminology, a beat is the territory and time that a police officer patrols. At least that is how Wikipedia sees it.
Beat patrolling is based on the traditional way of policing common in the late 19th century. It utilises the close relationship with community members within an assigned beat to strengthen police effectiveness and encourage cooperative efforts to make a community safe.
Beat police officers typically patrol on foot or bicycle (not yet in PNG) which provides more interaction between police and the community members.
Talk to the older generation and many will say the police patrol, either motorised or on foot, has a long history of being used as a crime prevention method.
Police officers who walk a regular beat have a greater opportunity to build rapport and establish a trusting relationship with the community, and that is what N’Dranou wants to gain – public trust.
Police foot patrols can be an effective crime deterrent method in some areas.
The more the community members are familiar with a police officer, the more likely they will be able to pass along information about crime.
Community policing is important.
The main aim of community policing is for the police to build relationships with the community through interactions, partnerships and strategies for reducing crime and disorder
While foot patrols have been shown to be positive, the challenge now is to maintain the exercise so it does not become an ad-hoc operation.
The important factors for this operation to become a success right across the country are having the manpower and funding to have it running effortlessly.
The police department needs to make money available and recruit more officers for this operation to have an impact on the communities.
The operation also requires police partnership with businesses, individual citizens, non-for-profit groups and the media.
Instead of simply leaving it to the police force, community policing should involve the entire community.
Our police officers do great work – day in, day out – on the streets to keep us safe and secure, but with the increase in crimes like car thefts and drug trafficking they have their hands full already.
This makes it even more important to give them the resources they need to enable them do their work well and keep our communities safe.