Police want housing and new stations

By DYLAN MURRAY
THE Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) is in need of new infrastructures like police stations and housing for officers, says commissioner David Manning.
Manning made this statement in response to concerns raised by development partners at a recent forum about the rising crime rates in certain parts of the country.
“Very few new police infrastructures have been built since Independence,” he said.
“The RPNGC is very thankful to the development partners for their support through tax credit schemes.”
Security principal at Newcrest Mining Limited Lihir PNG, James Grayson March, noted that a lot of the RPNGC’s development partners in the resource sector were facing similar problems – the rising crime rate versus the shortage of police personnel on the ground.
“To attract police officers, we need the facilities. There has to be room to grow and start a family where officers are transferred to so we should build the infrastructures,” March said.
Manning said the RPNGC and the Government were very serious about increasing the number of police officers nationwide and were working to do so.
He said this was why there was work done to refurbish the Bomana Police College and why they were doing a recruitment drive after some years.
“The executives are facing challenges that our predecessors as far back as 50 years ago could not imagine,” he said.
Deputy commissioner, administration, Joanne Clarkson added that RPNGC’s executives were supportive of development through tax credit schemes, but acknowledged that there was a need for better accountability around the assistance given, whether monetary or infrastructural.