Police recruitment gets K400,000

Lae News, Normal
Source:

The National- Thursday, February 3, 2011

 By ELLEN TIAMU

the Morobe provincial government has allocated K400,000 to recruit policemen and women to beef up the regular police manpower in the province in the light of ethnic violence and increased lawlessness becoming more prevalent in Lae.

Provincial administrator, Kemasang Tomala made this known at the official handover of a new 10-seater Toyota LandCruiser to the solicitor general’s office in Lae, last Friday.

 He said the recruitment and training of new police personnel was one of the initiatives considered by the provincial government and provincial administration to help maintain law and order in Lae.

The provincial administration would be meeting this week with Morobe police executives and the commander of PNG Defence Force’s Igam Barracks to discuss matters relating to 

the recruitment and training of new police personnel.

They are looking at using facilities at Igam Barracks facilities to train the recruits. 

He said Lae city’s population had dramatically increased, hence the upsurge in ethnic fights which threatened movements of innocent law-abiding citizens. 

“For us to move forward, we need to look at how best we can realign with the law and justice organisations that have the mandate to curb our law and order problems,” Tomala said. 

The provincial government and administration spent K1.6 million last year on law and order of which approximately K500,000 was spent on police operations at the 4-Mile area which had experienced continuous ethnic violence.

 The provincial government had so far bought 20 vehicles for police in Lae and the districts.

“We have allocated funding to the districts to help curb their respective law and order situation and will continue to support them through our budgetary assistance as we have been for the past eight years,” Tomala said.