Shame on abusive policeman

OUR cover story yesterday about the policeman who assaulted a head teacher for sending his child home for not being in uniform beggars description.
The head teacher was implementing school policy which provides for a disciplined school environment and gives pride and respect to the school.
Every child is expected to obey school rules in the same way as the police force expects each officer to be in uniform and follow certain strict disciplinary code of conduct.
The head teacher followed the rules and regulations of the school as he should. For that he was assaulted by a man who wore the uniform of the PNG police force who is the man charged with upholding the laws of this country.
Had the police officer been following his own code of conduct, he should not have been on the school premise in uniform. He was presumably on a personal mission – to vent his personal anger at his son being asked to go home for the day.
If the policeman was there on an official complaint from some other person against the headmaster, following strict police procedures, he ought to have told the headmaster that he was wanted for questioning at the police station and would he please accompany him there.
Nothing can justify the assault on the teacher in full few of fellow teachers and students.
He was forced into a police vehicle and taken to Hohola police station where he was detained without being told the reason for his assault, arrest and detention.
The head teacher’s pleas and requests to be told what his crime was appear to have fallen on deaf ears of other policemen at the station.
Several hours later, he was told to pay K100, apologise to the policeman for his actions (presumably in sending the child home) and was allowed to leave.
This is one of the most frightening display of police brutality.
Unless the police hierarchy takes immediate action against this policeman, this shameful conduct will smear the good name of the police force.
We report today the story as related to us by a father in the Western Highlands whose son, he claims, was driving home in Gerehu in Port Moresby when he was stopped and shot by a policeman without a charge or any arrest.
The son, who works with Bank of South Pacific, was taken out of the car
he was driving, had
a gun pointed at him and was shot in the foot.
We report this at the same time as there are reports that many cases are being struck out in the courts for lack of evidence provided by police.
We report at the same time that arsonists who torched a property in Lae’s 3-Mile are still at large because police have been
unable to pick up the culprits.
We report that in parts of the Chimbu province, people are being harassed and killed because there is no police presence on the ground. Or, if there is, then it appears neutralised by the local people with criminal intent.