Police in the National Capital District this week received a boost of 8 vehicles from the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary which will be handed over to the Police station Commanders for their use to enhance the administration and efficiency of each of their stations.
The vehicle presentation was held at the Boroko Police station, with the Deputy Police Commissioner Administration, Joanne Clarkson along with both the Chief of Staff from the office of the Commissioner, Mr. Steven Francis and the Director of Transport, Mr. Joe Joseph present for the occasion.
Addressing the Station Commanders, DCP Clarkson stated that she was there on behalf of both Commissioner Manning and Deputy Commissioner of Operations, Anton Billie who was out of the city on duty travel, to present the vehicles to the NCD Command.
“I am here just to hand over the vehicles to the NCD command and support in your policing efforts. You operate in a challenging command, one of the more challenging commands around the country outside of the highlands region, but you’re also the face of the RPNGC. You house the entire country in your command,” DCP Clarkson said.
She said that they have been hearing and reading about the plight that the NCD police have been facing from the public and the command itself and this is the response from the headquarters, but in a small way.
“There is more that we can do, we feel that we are able to and we acknowledge that but we can not only have to think of you but also have to think of the rest of the country,” she added.
NCD/Central Commander, ACP Anthony Wagambie Jnr, expressed great happiness in his address to the three representatives from Police HQ on behalf of the NCD Metropolitan Superintendent and his station commanders, stating that they have been having problems with front line supervision.
“Most of the time [the PSC’s], when it’s time for work they stay at home because they can’t make it to work because there is only got one shift vehicle and the shift vehicle is doing other duties and then after hours they are not able to get to the police station to check on the shift workers to see if they are on duty, they aren’t able to do that or other routine runs,” Wagambie said.
He added that now with these vehicles, they will be implementing their plan of having duty officers to oversee their officers in the stations.
Finally, NCD Metropolitan Superintendent, Gideon Ikumu happily thanked the DCP and the Police Headquarters for providing the vehicles, stating that when took charge 18 months ago, his biggest challenge was command and control of the men under his command.
“Things were everywhere, Police men were roaming around doing their own stuff, little constables were summoning secretaries, directors and CEOs to the CID office to extort money from them, roadblocks were happening all over the place, and I noticed that the biggest challenge was command and control,” the Superintendent said.
Ikumu outlined that one of his biggest challenge was the effectiveness of the middle management and that was his Police station Commanders. Speaking to the Zone commanders and the PSC’s he strongly advised them that they were directly responsible for the daily activities of their men.
“You [Zone commanders and PSC] sit in between the commander and myself and your men and women in the stations and you supervise the frontlines. One of the major issues was logistics. The ability to be present after hours, the ability to be present over the weekends when most extortions, briberies and everything else that takes place at your stations and they were able to get away with it,” he said.
He further added that now that the vehicles are available for their use, they can now be able to monitor their stations and their men effectively.
The 8 vehicles were given to all PSC’s, however, due to the Waigani Police station already having enough vehicles and the Hohola Police Station Commander yet to sort out administrative issue, both did not receive vehicles.
PC: RPNGC