POLICING DYSFUNCTION, DISORGANISATION & FAILURES

AMIDST SIGNS OF ARNARCHY AND CHAOS IN PNG

By Paul Amatio

The Post Courier wrote a scathing criticism of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC), our police force over the failure by the police command in the NCD to ensure the presence of police prosecutors in court yesterday. How pathetic that a major newspaper who refused to reveal the clear signs of inadequacies and malpractices in the appointment process of the man in charge of this organisation and its then minister now see fit to start criticising the very organisation he heads. If this “toilet paper” wants to have credibility in its editorial position, it needs to do more than blab. It must dig deeper into how and why this organisation cannot re-fleet. To blame the NCDC is weak. The RPNGC has sufficient funds allocated for re-fleet as well as maintenance of its fleet and other static assets. Why these are not being done should be looked into. Examine the budget and how that budget has been expended. Assess and tell us where the so-called assistance from the AFP actually is and where it is going to. Identify and interview the persons responsible within the department.

To simply point fingers is pathetic and displays very poor professionalism by your editorial and reporting staff. This is not reporting. This is blindly firing hoping to hit something.
To assist the Post Courier, let me state a few historical facts. The police force (and public service) started on a downward spiral on the day after Peter O'Neil illegally and unlawfully took over the government. He politicised the RPNGC and public service, crippled and neutralised all other law enforcement agencies and made certain that the cronies and incompetents and unqualified were appointed to key state institutions and departments. That then set the stage for muzzling and suppressing of all voices of reason and dissent. The police, as the prime law enforcement agency of state, was particularly targeted with this strategy. As an example, most of the ACPs now and the two DCPs (forget Tokura in Buka) have very little front line policing experience at station, provincial and division level. Hence the level and quality of advise given and received by the Commissioner is reflective of this. Bear in mind that the Commissioner himself has no such experience at all.

With the coming of Laguna, the people of PNG thought we would see reversals of this. And when Bryan Kramer was appointed police minister, I celebrated. Needless to say, I celebrated too early. I was in Solomon Islands on holidays and bumped into and was with Mr Fred Yakasa on the evening he received a call from Prime Minister James Marape to get on the first plane and return to PNG to take up the position of Police Commissioner. I was then stuck in the Solomons to manage his affairs while he returned at short notice. Needless to say, Marape did not have the balls to stand up to Kramer in cabinet and Kramer manipulated a young police officer with very little experience in real policing into the job. While that may be water under the bridge, the consequences of the manipulations of O'Neil and Kramer and weakness of Marape are now being reflected in all facets of governance.

The crisis in the RPNGC now is a clear indication of poor management at all levels, a clear lack of reporting, checks and balances with systematic dysfunction. The advise needed is not forthcoming to the Commissioner because he has surrounded himself, intentionally or unintentionally, with people of poor calibre. Essentially yes men. These are basically people with very poor background in policing at the frontlines who lack that knowledge and experience to guide them in advising the commissioner as to where, when and how police resources should be applied. I personally know of several cases where significant amounts of monies earmarked and needed for front line policing and key operations were diverted to other purposes including the reason of “savings” that has led to hundreds of police officers not being paid their due allowances for duty travel.

In my view that has been reinforced by some senior police officers (both current and former), the RPNGC receives sufficient funds in its annual budget to cater for the needs of the police fleet. And the same applies to institutional maintenance. The question is WHERE HAVE THESE BUDGETTED FUNDS GONE TO? If the government was serious about cost savings, it would institute an external audit by an international firm to audit the books of the police force and find out where its budget goes to and who benefits.

The police force itself now must seriously conduct a cost benefit analysis of its continuous hiring of vehicles when that alone would have ensured that the whole police fleet was upgraded many times over. And the same can be said for the PNGDF here.

For the Post Courier to now try to lambast the incumbent Commissioner and police hierarchy without seeking to identify the root cause of the situation is pathetic and weak reporting unbecoming of a major newspaper. It was nowhere in sight when it should have stood up for adherence to the rule of law. It was nowhere around when it should have come out against clear mismanagement in governance and policing. If it is trying to redeem itself, it has to do more than this pussyfooting and skirting around the issue by conducting a proper investigation and reporting on the facts behind the situation. And stop blaming NCDC as it is not responsible for the police.

In addition to and in line with past advise I have posted to Commissioner Manning, I further advise him to heed this.

1. As the 2022 elections are around the corner and you are not far from losing 500 officers, you must now take steps to immediately actualise the strategies as mentioned in your recent press release. Initiate the recruitment of reservists now for training to commence immediately. Do not wait until after the serving members are gone.

2. Publish the results of the recent promotions board sitting.

3. Based on this, make any key appointments you need to make into strategic positions now. If there are people in these key positions, I suggest you have them stood down on fully paid leave pending exit date. If there are any repatriations to be done, start them now also.

4. You have some good officers in the wrong places. Reshuffle them. And you have some officers who should not be officers. Sack them. Clean your house now.

The 2022 National General Elections will be the yardstick by which you are measured. Not by listening to Bryan Kramer’s scientific nonsense and ideas (or any other politician for that matter) which have no merit or value in real policing. If you can deliver a successful security operation in 2022, you will ensure your future. You will be the man who delivered a successful police operation in the face of extreme difficulties and severe constraints. If you do not, we all know what will happen then as the country disintegrates into chaos, anarchy and lawlessness on a scale never seen before.

What will be your legacy Mr Commissioner?