Police to probe boy’s death

AN investigation team will be sent to Western to investigate an alleged killing of a five-year-old boy by Port Moresby-based police officers, Police Minister Bryan Kramer says.
“The team from the police headquarters in Port Moresby will be sent today to investigate the killing of the child on Sunday,” Kramer said.
The Minister said acting Southern police commander Assist Comm John Maru would oversee the investigation.
Kramer said mobile squad officers from Port Moresby had been deployed to the province to boost law enforcement when the incident happened.
He said he would also look into allegations that some high ranking officers at the police headquarters were involved in a protection racket with companies to deploy mobile squad officers for private operations, especially in remote areas throughout the country.
According to sources, on Aug 25 at around 3pm, a woman was playing bingo with others at a location near Panakawa when a policeman and two community-based officers arrived on the scene and were trying to disperse the gamblers.
A police firearm was accidentally discharged during the operation.
The three officers attending to the scene had been deployed from Port Moresby to the area on July 26 to attend to a number of unrelated complaints, including the consumption, trafficking and sale of drugs, assault and bodily harm.
The body of the boy was transported to Daru by air charter on Monday for a post-mortem.
Meanwhile, South Fly police commander Supt Brian Kombe was unaware of the arrangement of the deployment of mobile squad officers from Port Moresby.
“The deployment of the mobile squad officers is an arrangement with a company and the Southern Police Command in Port Moresby,” Kombe said.
Kombe said South Fly was now under the border command and not southern command; he said he had raised concerns numerous times of the engagement of the mobile squad officers.
“I as the commander on the ground should be involved in this arrangement but my concerns were not addressed by police HQ”.