Northern Province will pilot a national reserve police recruitment and training initiative, with the Police Commissioner David Manning having approved the recruitment and training of up to 200 reserve personnel in each province to strengthen police manpower nationwide.
Southern Divisional Commander ACP Joseph Puri said this when speaking earlier on Monday in Port Moresby at a presentation of K1 million cheque to the PNG Royal Constabulary by the Northern Provincial Government.
Related news: https://thepngbulletin.com/news/oro-provincial-government-commits-k6million-to-rpngc-for-police-reserve-training/
ACP Puri said the K1 million funding from the provincial government would help complete the recruitment and training of police reserves for the province.
He was speaking at the Special Parliamentary Committee on Public Sector Reforms office in Port Moresby earlier on Monday, September 14.
ACP Puri said police had faced challenges with the recruitment and training process but were now progressing towards completion.
He said about 100 candidates had already been screened, processed and accepted for the reserve program.
“We have identified the training areas in Oro, and we will progress that,” ACP Puri said.
ACP Puri thanked the Northern Provincial Government, the Marape-Rosso Government and other agencies involved in making the reserve program possible.
He said the additional personnel would help address manpower shortages in the province, while police accommodation remained another major challenge.
“We have a lot of challenges in manpower. We have no accommodation and all that,” he said.
ACP Puri said locations had already been identified for possible accommodation, including areas where newly recruited personnel would be deployed.
He also assured the province that police would continue efforts to prevent the rise of criminal groups and ensure they did not spread to other parts of the country.
Meanwhile, Director for Community Policing Superintendent Godwin Dukaduka said the reserve program was an important part of strengthening the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary.
He said the Police Force Act provided for three branches of policing—the regular police, police reserves and community auxiliary polic
“The reserve branch is higher in terms of its authority to be able to police,” Dukaduka said.
He said the reserve program would provide important support to regular police officers, particularly in communities where police manpower was limited.
Dukaduka thanked the Northern Provincial Government for supporting the program and said the initiative would help strengthen policing in the province.
Related news: https://www.thepngsun.com/national-governments-10000-police-manpower-is-on-track-rpngc-expands-recruitment-intake/
“We hope that they can be a good support for the RPNGC regular officers on the ground and can bring policing to the hub and look after our people here,” he said.