Police Minister William Onglo has listed cuts in the National Budget and a shortage in manpower as the biggest constraints to police service delivery in Papua New Guinea.
The Minister said this at the launching of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) 10 year Corporate Plan in port Moresby.
“RPNGC’s 2021 Budget was K64.2 million less from last year’s budget, given that scenery, we also have the COVID pandemic and we have struggled to meet the demands it has placed on us. In-Service Police Training also requires K1.4 million to carry out,” said Minister Onglo.
“Our recruitment is also an issue. Currently our police force has less than 5,000 police officers. This means that RPNGC police to population ratio is about 1:1,367. The United Nation’s recommended police to population ratio of 1:450. So as you can see, we are outnumbered and overworked,” he added.
This was echoed by Police Commissioner, David Manning, who announced that the force is set to retire 600 officers who are of retirement age at the end this year, saying that there will be a huge gap that will need to be filled.
The Minister also said the Covid-19 Operation has also put a constraint on the police force, however, the police has taken this in stride and managed this very well.
He further said that inadequate capacity and resources for investigations and prosecutions for general crime are also a cause for concern, with high profile cases still pending prosecutions.