WHP cops get condoms

By SHIRLYN BELDEN
POLICE officers in the Western Highlands have been encouraged to be wary of the high rate of HIV in the region and be responsible when on duty during the election period.
The Mt Hagen community policing unit received 200 boxes of condoms from the Anglicare StopAIDS office in Mt Hagen for officers who will be engaged in providing security in the region during the election. 
Chief Sgt Peter Buri requested a carton of 200 condom boxes for his men as a preventive measure against the risk of contracting the disease.
He said the intention was to make police officers aware of the high risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STIs), especially during the peak of elections.
“Our aim is to make sure that they practise safe sex so that they can go back to their families without STIs after the election operations,” he said last week.
Buri said every officer would get 12 boxes of condoms each before they were deployed to their respective duty locations because he wanted to ensure his men returned to their families clean.
Anglicare Highlands operations manager Cliff Melvin Rombok thanked the police for taking the initiative in advocating HIV/AIDS prevention in their workplaces.
“Mobile people like police officers have higher chances of contracting the HIV virus and other STIs because they move around doing their work. I thank the community policing unit for the initiative of making condoms available to your men,” he said.