2ND BATCH OF CITY WARDENS COMPLETE TRAINING

The second batch of City Wardens have completed training and are now ready to be deployed to their assigned suburb in Port Moresby city.

A total of 160 youths, 6 of which are females underwent a 3-day warden training carried out by Zero Alpha Security Solutions (ZASS), a locally owned security firm specialized in security training.

Camilla Jimmy is one of the first female youth to join the City Warden Initiative, she said that she was inspired to join the wardens because of the positive turnout of the program.

“I joined this program because it has helped in improving the safety of women and mothers even some men who are vulnerable to being attacked by petty criminals,” said Miss Jimmy.

She said the training helped her gain not only tactical and communication skills but also helped change her mindset.

She commended NCD Governor Powes Parkop for this initiative and also thanked her trainers from ZASS.

“We learnt a lot, from crowd control to apprehending suspects and self-defence among others has really helped shape our attitude as many of us are from different backgrounds.

“Many of us come from the settlements and have been involved in illegal activities, some of us went as far as Grade 10 and 12 while some have not completed school at all, but through our trainers, we have gained a lot, such as how to behave in and communicate with the public when carrying out our duties.”

Another youth, Eddy Alembo, is a high school dropout from Hela province and goes by the nickname K8 (Eight Kina) said he lived in Badili for almost 20 years and has been involved in many illegal activities but decided to change and take different path when he found out about the City Wardens Initiative.

“I have never had any formal employment experience, but I heard there is an opportunity if I joined the warden’s initiative and work with the police, this may be a good reference for me when I want to go back to school,” he said.

Alembo said as a father of a 5-year-old boy, he has chosen to take this path and advocated to his fellow youths in Moresby South District to embrace the opportunity provided by NCDC while help improving law and order in the city.

He also added that the training has transformed his mindset.

“My mindset has changed; I can now take this experience to my community and advocate for change and look after our own community”, he said.

“I don’t know about the others but for me; to be trained by people with military experience has greatly influenced me and I believe I have gained a lot in the three days.”

ZASS Managing Director Lieutenant Murray Oa said they designed and carried out the training in a way that is easily understandable by all regardless of their background.

“We designed our training in an interactive way. They talk, we talk and it’s more of a group discussion and sharing ideas and all that, they’re just moving around and going from group to group, team to team. People came out of their shells, and they were asking questions. Probably some stupid questions but this means that everyone’s thinking,” said Lt. Oa.

He said from his observation, there’s been the behavior of the trainees.

“What I’ve been looking at was the improvement in terms of their personality.

From day one when we met them, they were not at the standard and now they are there.

Now it’s more like they’re cautious about how they look and how they walk.

Before they walked aimlessly, now they have purpose, and they also look a lot smarter.

Their dress and grooming, they’re cleanly shaved now, tucked in, wearing shoes and wearing long trousers,” he said. “I feel that there’s been a change.”

Lt. Oa said he is confident that the trainees are now ready to go out and serve as City Wardens.

“With the experience from the instructors in making sure that they grasp the concept, I think that has been achieved successfully. From their dressing to their grooming, it’s just been a success. I’m sure that we’ll confidently go out to the field now.
I’m pretty sure that whatever work they’ll be doing, they will probably do more because they’re on some kind of high morale now. But I feel confident that they will be a bonus and they’ll be an asset to this City Warden programme.”

He further called on the public to support the city wardens and help improve law and order in the city.

“Everyone, regardless of what walk of life, everyone is responsible. Everyone is responsible for public safety. So now with us training the City Wardens, we have an extra advantage.”

The police ratio to the citizens is inadequate, so with us training the wardens, that’s the extra arm now for the law-and-order sector.

“My message to the public is let’s support this. Let’s not go on social media and criticize them or the organizers. Let’s get behind this program and let’s change Port Moresby. And if we can change Port Moresby, that will eventually lead to changing PNG. So, we can take back PNG in such small ways. It’s about the small ways.”