Police, soldiers to restore peace

A GROUP of police officers and soldiers are now in Southern Highlands to restore law and order, according to Assistant Police Commissioner Operations David Manning.
It follows the burning of an Air Link Dash-8 aircraft, the home of Governor William Powi and the National and District Court buildings in Mendi last month.
Some of police officers and soldiers will be deployed to Hela to investigate the burning down of equipment belonging to the LNG project developer and the damage to roads.
“The Investigative Task Force consisting of detectives from Port Moresby, Lae, Goroka, Chimbu and Madang are in the province to investigate the crimes committed on June 4,” he said.
Manning is the Operations Commander for the State of Emergency declared for Southern Highlands.
“The operation is to rebuild the police force in the province. We will instil public confidence in the police and restore their integrity by conducting operational duties independently to bring back peace in the communities,” he said.
“Our job is to rebuild the police force in the province and ensure a higher degree of policing services is available and that the police-public relationship is improved.
“Now is the time to fix our policing services and identify the confusion in rank and file within the local police which resulted in the breakdown of command and control in the police force in SHP.”
Manning said the purpose was to bring back peace and order in the province so that government services and businesses could operate normally.