Regular patrols making fighting crime effective in Lae

By NICHOLAS SIREO
REGULAR patrols by police make policing effective in Lae, says Metropolitan Superintendant Anthony Wagambie Jr.
He was speaking yesterday after the Sector Response Unit (SRU) of the city’s police was boosted with additional manpower to help fight crime in the city.
“I have been assessing the performance of the SRU since they were established and I found out that they have been performing very well,” Wagambie said.
He said the number of robberies, carjacking and other serious crimes had dropped dramatically. “Previously, we had one response unit in each sector but additional manpower and resources have been allocated, so we have  two response units in each sector now,” he said
Wagambie said the response time for SRU is less than 10 minutes on average but with additional manpower and resources that time would be reduced.
Wagambie said 15 more police officers were added to the SRU and the unit would be given four more vehicles.
“The combination of our sector unit with suburban police stations and Mobile Squad 13 has proven to be effective in combating crime,” he said. Wagambie said additional manpower and resources would contribute to more police visibility and public confidence in police
The SRU was formed in April after Lae police tried to tackle the rise in crime in the city.
Meanwhile, police in Lae are considering another social media tool to fight crime following the establishment of their toll free number.
Wagambie said they were planning to set up a WhatsApp application to enable the public to send crime-related pictures and videos to police.