Police presence in Alotau, Milne Bay ‘vital’

ALOTAU MP Charles Abel says police presence in Alotau and Milne Bay is important to maintain law and order after several incidents over the last 12 months.
Abel said the provincial government needed law enforcement to operate effectively after the burning down of a duplex at the police barracks and the ransacking that took place.
Abel, who is also Finance Minister, said police presence in the town was vital because notorious criminal Tommy Baker and his gang were still at large.
He said their presence was not the issue but the way they were doing their jobs.
“It is the police methods of attending to complaints and arresting and charging suspects that is the problem. The use of excessive force and the burning down of the houses is not warranted and not acceptable,” Abel said.
He said the province was still waiting for the appointment of a permanent provincial police commander and the restructure of local police.
Abel was responding to the people who lost their houses in a recent police raid and those injured and the death of an elderly woman last year in another incident in Alotau.
Acting police commissioner David Manning told The National that an investigation team would travel to Alotau to assess the situation and make a report.