Dog unit banned in city

The dog unit has been banned from operating in Port Moresby indefinitely.

This directive comes from the office of the NCD Metropolitan superintendent, Perou N'Dranou, following reports of police harassment in the last two weeks.

The harassment were mostly related to vending in public places.

The main push factor for this ban was an incident last Wednesday when a unit chasing vendors at the Hohola market, shot teargas into the air to disperse the crowd. But this was meters from the nearby Sacred Heart primary school which saw a few students injured and rushed to the hospital.

In a media brief this morning, N'Dranou said such police behavior has caused fear in the public.

He assured residents that steps are being taken to deal with this.

"We have director dog unit to investigate and come up with a finding on that," he said.

The ban issued commenced yesterday and will run indefinitely, until investigations are confirmed and completed.

"If there are good evidence, the members involved should be disciplined."

He added that as much as the NCD police needs support from the support units, they must operate within commands.

"I'd rather have a limited number who's performing as per the procedure and not causing inconvenience to the public, than a large number that brings us issues like this one."

The metropolitan superintendent is calling on the dog unit to restore command and control and assure residents that there'll be no more illegal practice to cause public concern.

He reaffirmed his stance on discipline and stressed that he will not accept officers deviating on police practice in performing their roles.

He added that the NCD police is assisting NCDC to enforce the partial buai ban, effective in the Boroko area, commencing Monday, 12 March.

"We will seek to ensuring that Boroko is free from litter as well as crime."

Author: 
Gloria Bauai