An outcry by city residents and the Governor for NCD, Powes Parkop over the disturbing rise of law and order issues in Port Moresby has seen the permanent appointment of Benjamin Turi as the new Assistant Commissioner of Police for NCD and Central Province.
Today, the NCD and Central Commanders met at Boroko Police Station to witness the Hand-Over-Take-Over of Command from ACP Northern Command, Peter Guiness to newly appointed ACP NCD-Central, Benjamin Turi.
Guiness was brought in from Lae to take charge after the collapse of Command that lead to the “Black Wednesday” riots in Port Moresby.
On January 10th, 2024, dubbed “Black Wednesday “, Police personnel had protested against huge cuts in pay and subsequently abandoned their duties.
Opportunists took over, causing riots throughout the city with a number of shops burnt down and several deaths reported.
After ten (10) months of acting on the post to regain control and command in NCD, Guiness handed over the reigns to return to his substantive position as ACP Northern Commander, looking after Eastern Highlands and Morobe Provinces.
Guiness acknowledged the support from all the Police Station Commanders (PSC’s) and heads of divisions in the NCD Command for their support in ensuring that stability returned within the police force.
Moving forward, with collaboration from the NCD Metropolitan Command, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and National Capital District Commission (NCDC), they have formulated a new policing approach to ensure all Police Station Commanders take charge of their areas of command effectively.
Part of this approach is to ensure all the Police Station Commanders are involved in Management meetings and relevant trainings to up skill them as Managers.
“I want all the Police Station Commanders in NCD to become part of the Management team so that we can all sit down together and discuss issues that are affecting the Command,” Guines said.
Taking on from where his predecessor left, ACP Turi said starting Monday, he will meet with individual PSC’s and the Metropolitan Superintendent Commander to discuss respective areas of Command.
“We will revisit the duty statement of each and everyone of you. The Station Commanders you have a very big role to play.
“We will look at the duty statements from the PSC’s down to the operations on ground,” Turi said.
Another aspect of ensuring command is taking control of disciplinary challenges with each Station.
PSC’s were encouraged to ensure members of their commands are disciplined if they step out of line.
“Discipline is good. If you don’t discipline your men, you spoil your men,” Turi stressed.
Witnessing the HOTO was NCDC Chief Executive Officer, Dr Newton Albert who announced that with this new plan in place, NCDC will be announcing its support to Police next week.
The support includes fuel and logistics to help police tackle the escalating law and order issues in the city.