POLICE BRUTALITY: Review Police Brutality in PNG

By CHRISTOPHER PAPIALI

Recorded Police brutality in Papua New Guinea ought to be brought to the fore as more and more Papua New Guineans experience extreme physical suffering and death in the hands of rogue policemen.
Reported and unreported cases of police brutality is causing extreme violence and it becomes a national issue as some foreign observers have also discussed it at various forums and meetings.
A far more appalling reaction from United Nations is contained in a fact finding report titled Level of police violence in Papua New Guinea. In this report, Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur states “This regular practice of police violence, corroborated by medical evidence, often reaches the level of torture.”

Every year the government’s allocation of police budget increases without any improvement and reduction of police brutality and not even the rank and file of the police force inform the nation how the increase spending is accounted for.
We are left in awe whether or not to increase financial spending on the operation and management of police force by the government.

There may be varying views, however, in a very vital data ought to be augmented to provide an overall scenario as to whether a reduction should be considered particularly in the allocation of fleet of vehicles.

It is by far a common view that the only government department that has a lot of vehicles is the Police Department into which most of those vehicles do not serve the purpose of the police duties. How many times we hear police vehicles being used as a family vehicle or carrying around wantoks and friends without the knowledge and approval of the next person in command. And in most cases, these policemen get drunk and with drunken mood harass innocent women and children in public places, even in night clubs and hotels.

There are reported cases of a large handful of them engaged in white collar crime and hide under the pretext of police. Even more are the cases where some of them follow politicians for favor and this was very obvious during the 2012 National Elections.

So then the commander in charge of others beneath him or her finds difficulty applying discipline and order. The line of discipline and order is watered down which leads to chaotic hierarchical order to which then demeans the very pillars that embraces police ethics.

In some countries, they decrease spending on police and job performed by police are done by the community themselves amassing trust, neighborhood watch and collaboration.