Police Commissioner

The suspect, Fiebik Simon, while allegedly under the influence of alcohol, used a firearm to threaten a woman in the National Capital District and refused to surrender his weapons to police.

Commissioner Manning, as the Registrar of Firearms, cancelled Simon’s two gun licences and forfeited his firearms to the custody of the state.

The three focus areas for the RPNG to achieve this intent include;

1. Grow and improve RPNGC
2. Build a safer PNG
3. Strengthen Partnership, Government and Accountability

“We will look at growing the probationary constable numbers by 500 including 30 constables for the Bougainville Police Service and an increase of Commissioned officers by 60.

“Evolve the accommodation policy to encourage good performance and commence implementation of rolling out infrastructure maintenance and police accommodation,” he added.

The alleged victim was said to have been picked up by police, beaten up and threatened to be killed.

Laken Lepatu Aigilo, a lawyer by profession, had alleged that on Sunday, 18th of April, police broke into his home and assaulted him in front of his family and later locked him up.

Aigilo posted on social media detailing the assault, alleging that the move by police was politically motivated.

Police Commissioner David Manning said there was no formal complaint lodged against Aigilo and no arrest was done during the night when he was taken in.

The notice of motion was filed on Tuesday 26 January before His Honour, Justice Derek Hartshorn, who set the case for 3.30pm on Wednesday 27 January, and directed that the first and second respondent (Sylvester Kalaut and Fred Yakasa) be served before 12 noon on Tuesday.

At 3.30pm on Wednesday, lawyer for the first and second respondents, David Datona of Datona Lawyers, argued that his clients were only served at 11.30am yesterday and therefore required more time to prepare.

Justice Hartshorn deferred the case to 9.30am today (Thursday 28 January, 2021).

This event culminated from an administrative oversight in the handling of a District Court warrant on an ongoing high-level case currently subjected to the constitutional process of investigation.

“Our constitutional duty is to protect life and property and to enforce the law fairly, without fear or favour. And I am now appealing to all members of the Constabulary to remain neutral. We are the people’s police force and therefore our people’s interest will be our main focus and priority,” stated David Manning.

“Following my appeal and direction, I will not hesitate to discipline members who continue to ‘play politics’.”

Manning said the next couple of weeks will be a very challenging and critical period for Papua New Guinea as a nation.

The young man was allegedly subjected to assault by policemen attached to the Six-Mile Police Station and died last Saturday. Members of the Six Mile community protested on Sunday but were stopped by Police.

Commissioner Manning said he wants this and other claims of police brutality and abuse to be thoroughly investigated.

“We the police are not above the law. We are entrusted to protect life and property and to bring to justice those who break the law,” he stated.

The new office will be next to the National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate building.

Construction work is scheduled to commence in late September this year.

Manning says this would solve the problem of rental for the Internal Affairs Directorate where they have been renting office for the last three years.

“This is where we need leadership with vision and foresight. If we had built three years ago, we would not have paid over K2 million on rentals.”

The appointment was made by Governor General, Sir Bob Dadae.

This follows advice from the National Executive Council (NEC), and by virtue of the powers conferred in Section 41 (1) of the National Pandemic Act 2020, the Governor General declared the existence of a COVID-19 pandemic throughout PNG with effect from 17 June until further notice.

Following his appointment Manning issued seven National Pandemic Measures as part of the Government's COVID-19 response.

They are:

“We are in a national health emergency which threatens our people so I challenge our officers to continue to be committed and loyal,” Manning said following queries whether police men and women engaged in the SOE were to be paid allowances.

“There was never a commitment to pay any allowances except for those that were deployed to other provinces for COVID-19. Money is a big issue and our priorities are in the health sector in terms of PPE and testing.