Police Commissioner speaks on fitness

Commissioner Gari Baki says though a fitness policy is in place, police personnel do not adhere to it.

His statement follows a recent report from the RPNGC saying the number of police personnel dying from natural causes has peaked in recent years.

Deputy Police Commissioner and Chief of Administration, Raphael Huafolo, recently highlighted that in 2017 alone, over 80 policemen and women died mostly from natural causes whilst serving on active duty. 64 deaths were recorded in 2018 and 10 within the first four months of this year.

The ages of the members who died over the last five years were between 40 and 55.

The Royal PNG Constabulary hierarchy said most of these deaths were from lifestyle diseases, meaning, these deaths could have been prevented if the members had taken care of themselves, eaten the right food, exercised and did regular medical checks.

Following this report, Commissioner Gari Baki said the onus is on individual officers to ensure they are in good health.

“We only emphasise on fitness when they go into Bomana but as soon as they come back, come out of Bomana, it’s something they should do on their own,” stressed Baki.

“So lifestyle diseases is part of that, meaning that policemen are not too careful with what they eat on a daily basis. They eat out of their own house, they do things that are contrary to the expectation of their life as police officers.”

Baki said the RPNGC will be reviewing its policies, and the employment of medical officers will be included as part of the constabulary recruitment process.

Author: 
Carmella Gware