The main objective of the State of Emergency (SOE) is to restore the rule of law in the troubled Southern Highlands Province, says Assistant Commissioner of Police Operations, David Manning.
Manning, who is the Operations Commander for the SHP SOE 2018, said the SOE operation is intended to rebuild the police force in the province.
Commander Manning said: “We will instill public confidence in the police and restore the integrity of police by conducting operational duties independently to bring back peace in the communities.
“Our job is to rebuild the police force in the province and ensure a higher degree of policing services is available to the various communities and that the police-public relationship is improved.
“Now is the time we should fix our policing services and identify the confusion in rank and file within the local police, which resulted in the breakdown of command and control in the police force in SHP.”
He said the purpose of this SOE is to bring back peace and good order in the province so that government services and commercial business can operate normal.
The Joint Force Operation will see the maintenance of law and order and address crimes throughout the troubled SHP as well as the Hela Province.
Since the 4th June incident of arson, many government services and business houses have closed their operations and this has adversely affected the public servants and the general populace within the province.
The Investigative Task Force (ITF) consisting of CIDs from Port Moresby, Lae, Goroka, Simbu and Madang are in the province to conduct investigations into the crimes committed on June 4 whilst Mobile Squads 06 and 10 as well as the PNGDF contingent will provide support and security during the SOE operation.
The callout/SOE operations will be conducted in four phases: Intercession; Proper Investigation; Prosecution and; Extraction.
“The first phase starts now with the intercession and establishment of Command Centre in Mendi,” Manning said.
(Assistant Commissioner of Police Operations, David Manning)