On Thursday I will travel to Lae with Commissioner for Police David Manning and Assistant Commissioner for Police Anthony Wagambie Jnr.
During the trip, we will announce the Marape Government's plan to comprehensively re-fleet the Police Force. This is an important part of our reform program, which also includes improved command and control and increased discipline. We are also improving police welfare by improving the wages, housing and medical insurance of its 7,300 members.
Two weeks ago, we launched the country's first Station of Excellence in Port Moresby. The project involved the renovation and fit out of the Waigani Police Station, complete with modern facilities, CCTV cameras, improved ICT and five brand new vehicles as part of sector patrol. I will discuss this further in a forthcoming post.
The re-fleet program commenced with the Station of Excellence. We purchased five Nissan Patrol vehicles fully kitted out with the latest Motorola communications, GPS tracking and dash cam (video) systems. The dash cams provide real time monitoring and tracking as well as video streaming both inside and outside the vehicle - where footage is uploaded and stored onto the Station's computer server.
The second phase includes the delivery of twelve new Nissan Patrols to Madang District.
These were purchased in partnership with the Madang District Development Authority and the RPNGC in a kina-for-kina program. The total cost of the twelve vehicles was K2.04 million, with the Madang DDA contributing K1 million.
The decision to purchase Nissan Patrols instead of the traditional Toyota Landcruiser was cost – we were able to purchase twelve vehicles instead of ten. The additional two vehicles will make a significant impact on policing operations.
The second issue was safety. The Patrols have a wider base and are built lower to the ground, reducing the risk of rolling.
The twelve vehicles for Madang District will be deployed in both rural and urban Madang, and will be operational 24/7.
Four vehicles will be tasked to patrol Transgogol Rural LLG; two to South Ambenob rural LLG; two to North Ambenob Rural LLG; and four vehicles will patrol Madang Urban.
Their first assignment will be to replace the twelve vehicles currently on hire in Madang District. This will give us considerable cost savings that can be put towards improving our members welfare.
Operation Make Madang Safe Again is in the first week of its third month. We have made major improvements in law and order in the tourist town that was recently branded the “murder capital of PNG.”
Police have overseen the surrender of 500 suspects involved in homebrew and drugs, 30 of which were directly involved in recent cult killings including the beheading of teacher in 2018.
The last of the phase of the operation will move through Madang Urban, sweeping through settlements to flush out known criminals before effecting a number of court ordered evictions.
Picture of twelve new police vehicles parked outside the Lae Metro Police Station waiting to be mobilized to Madang by road
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