Preparations for National General Elections in the Milne Bay Province is in its final stages, says Milne Bay Police Boss, Superintendent Peter Barkie. He said that right now their focus is to organize three main groups of security personnel that will be deployed into the 4 districts of the province. “There will be 3 groups of security personnel operating in unison to ensure the safety of civilians and Electoral Commission workmen and women,” Barkie said. The 3 groups of security personnel will comprise of the following; The Command & Logistics Team, who will be based in all the police stations across the province, commanding operations in the districts and providing the logistical assistance to the teams within the operation zones. This is to make sure that normal police operations are stable and that there will be officers at the stations to assist people who need help. The second grouping of officers are the Polling Security Teams [PST] that will be assisting members of the Electoral Commission by ensuring their security at polling booths. Superintendent Barkie said that in Milne Bay, there are 130 polling teams and 3 police officers will be assigned to each team. He added that the final team of security personnel will be the Quick Reaction Force [QRF]. “They will be responsible for creating a safe, secure environment in which the Election Manager and his team will be able to operate,” he said. The QRF will also be dealing with public order management and/or any other disturbances that arise. Their responsibilities defer to that of the Polling Security Team. “The PST will be responsible for the security of the ballot boxes, the polling officials, the observers and the journalists covering the elections, whereas the QRF will be on standby for interventions,” Barkie added. The QRF will be comprised of the Police Mobile Squad [MS], The National Security Unit [NSU], the Defense Force Land [Infantry] & Maritime Elements and finally the members of the Correctional Services. Almost 600 security personnel will be deployed for the election operations in the province. Superintendent Barkie stated that the current number of police personnel in the province is 74 [officers] and with the addition of the sister security forces, that number will increase at least 5 times. He advised that he is comfortable with the manpower allocated to him and the logistic arrangement and is confident that they will deliver a successful National General Election that is free, fair and safe.