Returning from successful tour

COVER STORY

By GEORGINA KOREI
THE first ever Papua New Guinea joint security contingent to Solomon Island came back as heroes with medals after restoring peace there in the capital Honiara.
A female police officer was among the group of 36 security personnel that were deployed with the mission of restoring peace, regaining confidence to the Solomon Island police and creating peace dialogue within the conflicting communities.
First Constable Fiona Kovingre was fortunate and privileged to be part of the joint security personnel that went to Solomon Island on a 13-week mission of restoring peace and good order.
“For a mum and a police officer it was very challenging in a male-dominated role but I managed to work well with my male counterparts,” she said upon returning to Port Moresby.
“Being away from my children for months was hard but it is my job and I’m proud to serve my country in a foreign land.”
Two members of the Fox Unit under the NCD Metropolitan Command said they were very privileged to have experienced how policing was done in Solomon Islands compared to Papua New Guinea.
First Constable Samuel Ambo shares his experience by saying that was his first ever deployment to a foreign land.
“Everything was new because it was an international operations and first for a member of Fox Unit like me. It was good because we have experienced bosses working alongside us and guiding us during the deployment,” he said.
“Our colleagues from the Correctional Services were very supportive. It was a good exposure for us as we watch and learn how policing was done in differently in Solomon Islands compared to PNG.
“The culture and policing in Solomon Island was very different from PNG.
“In PNG, the policing style is rough and tough where police officers can belt the suspects if they do not cooperate with the police. In Solomon Islands, policing was done smoothly without any harsh discipline involved as their human rights law is very strong.

“We got a good support from the Royal Solomon Islands Police with the other international security contingents that we were working hand in and we managed to restore peace and good order”.
Sergeant Ben Tapah from the Correctional Services was one of the 13 CS officers that were gazetted by the Police Commissioner to accompany the 24 police personnel as PNG security contingents to Solomon Island.
It was a very challenging experience for him to travel overseas to provide security. We were ranked as special constables during the security deployment to under the directives of the police department.
The policing style in Solomon Island is totally different from PNG in terms of disciplinary.
“In PNG, there is high rate of police brutality and the use of firearms during tense situation while in Solomon Island there is less use of weapons during tough situations.
“Solomon Islands Police were trained by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) through the Public Order Management (POM) whereas in PNG, not all the security personnel were trained in POM.”
Ben is the master trainer to his colleagues up at the Bomana CS College.
“When we went to Solomon Islands, I was asked by the bosses to train the PNG security contingent members to Solomon Island as an instructor,” he said.
“Some of the members were trained in Bomana but not everyone that went for the Solomon Islands deployment were trained using the POM response training”.
Sergeant Ben was training the 37 PNG contingents that were deployed with the POM training as a refresher to the members when they were in Solomon Islands.
“The training involves how to use the shield and mostly tactical responses aspects of riot drills”.
The training was facilitated for three days to ensure that the security personnel from PNG were well equip and are adjusting well with how to handle the riot situation on the ground.
The Solomon Islands government wanted POM trained personnel so it was lucky that I was part of the group that led the team to showcase the riot drill.
“The parliamentarians from Solomon Islands wanted to see each international contingents to showcase their drills. I proudly represented PNG and assured them that our men were well ready for the operations”.
It was a privileged for me to have met the Australian Federal Police instructor who had trained me through POM back in Port Moresby.
Upon meeting him, Ben said “Sir from the POM training that you have taught me, I have brought the skills with me and now am using the knowledge acquired to train the other security personnel in PNG.
I was trained under the POM during the Asia Pacific Economic Corporation (APEC) meeting 2018 in Port Moresby.
Solomon Islands do not use firearms most of the time because the human rights law in Solomon Islands is very strong unlike us in PNG.
Due to the fact that the Solomon Island government advocates and upholds the human rights law, their case of police brutality is low compared to PNG.
Police in Solomon Islands do not go harsh in their citizens because their human rights law is very strong.
Ben is very confident in saying that the riot in Solomon Islands came to a standstill when the rioters heard of the presence of the members of the PNG security contingents.
Ben shared his encounter with a police colleague who is half Bougainville and Solomon Islands and this is what he has to say about the reaction of the public there when they heard that the PNG security contingents were flying over to assist in restoring order.
“The crowds were looting, destroying and burning down stores and properties that day when they saw the Air Niugini aircraft flying over Honiara city.
“I caught a glimpse of the bird of paradise (aircraft) in the sky while looters where throwing stones at me and my colleagues of the Royal Solomon Island police.
“I looked over to the bird of paradise at the back of the plane and told the looters, if you want to kill me please do so because up in the air, you can see my big brothers form PNG are flying high to rescue me. From that moment, the whole crowd of looters came to a halt to see the plane circling to land.
The looters instantly dropped down all the sticks and stones that they were using and ran for their lives.
“Most of the looters were from Malaita so they fled onto their ships and went home. The town was empty when the PNG security contingents arrived in Honiara.”
Ben added that Honiara Airport was empty when they landed.
“We slept at the airport for few days so that we could protect the airport facilities like the control tower while waiting for the other international security contingents who arrived some days later.”