Police warned to deposit money

By SYLVESTER WEMURU
EAST Sepik police commander Supt Albert Beli has warned his officers to deposit money collected from drivers or boat crews for overloading or breaching the state of emergency (SOE) orders.
He said the money has to be deposited into the provincial treasury’s account.
Supt Beli issued the warning after receiving complaints that police personnel were collecting money from drivers and boat crews as spot fines during the SOE.
He said police could use their discretions to collect fines from regular offenders who breached SOE directives.
“I want to make it clear to the people that under the provincial Covid-19 orders circular No.3 talks about the spot fine,” he said.
“The maximum fine is K50,000 if anyone is caught disobeying SOE orders.
“They can be told to pay that amount or less.”
Supt Beli said the fines were there as a deterrent and to protect against the Covid-19
But people needed to follow the advice and directives from provincial and national authorities.
“We all know the phrase of ‘prevention is better than the cure’,” he said.
“If you are overloading and the police stop you, they will punish you because you have disobeyed the orders.”
Supt Beli said those crossing provincial borders without authorisation would also be fined.
He also warned policemen not to use force to collect money but use their discretion to let the offenders go and continue with the awareness on the Covid-19 and preventative measures.
Supt Beli said he visited Ambunti station on Wednesday and met with the Ambunti-Dreikirkir administrator Ricky Wobar, who opened a week-long Covid-19 awareness programme.
The programme was for the security personnel who would be deployed throughout the district.