04 November 2013

 
INFORMATION SHEET
AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE DEPLOYMENT TO PAPUA NEW GUINEA

• As announced by the Prime Ministers of Papua New Guinea and Australia in July 2013, fifty additional Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers will be deployed to Port Moresby and Lae by the end of 2013.
• The AFP officers will provide frontline advisory support to the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) to strengthen the RPNGC’s ability to deliver effective and visible policing services for the people of PNG.
• The AFP officers will work in partnership with the RPNGC to improve law enforcement capabilities across key areas including:

1. public safety
2. station management and supervision
3. community liaison and engagement
4. traffic operations
5. criminal investigations
6. sexual offences.

• The AFP officers will not:

1. replace or take over the role of any RPNGC officers
2. undertake executive policing functions
3. arrest or charge any person for an offence against PNG domestic law.

• The first group of officers deployed under this arrangement will arrive in PNG in early November. Two smaller groups will follow in December, with all officers on the ground by Christmas.
• Initially, 37 officers will deploy to Port Moresby and 13 to Lae.
• In Port Moresby, the AFP officers will be working primarily from Boroko Police Station. From this base, AFP officers will accompany RPNGC officers on foot patrols, vehicle patrols, and visits to suburban police stations.
• The AFP officers in Lae will be based at the Lae Metropolitan Police Station.
• While on duty, the Australian officers will wear their AFP uniforms which will include the mission logo wok wantaim (working together).
• The AFP officers will be supported by a number of unsworn administrative personnel, bringing the total number of deployed AFP staff under this new initiative to almost 60.
• This is in addition to the 17 AFP officers already working in PNG with the RPNGC under the Papua New Guinea-Australia Policing Partnership (PNG-APP), which has been operating since 2008.
• The deployment of 50 additional AFP officers represents a major increase in Australian support for the RPNGC. The PNG Government has also committed to increasing PNG’s own funding for police in support of the RPNGC Modernisation Program.
• Law and justice is one of the priority areas for Australian support to PNG under the Partnership for Development. Through the Partnership, Australia supports all of PNG’s law and justice agencies, including the police, courts, Correctional Services, Ombudsman Commission, Department of Justice and Attorney-General, and the Offices of the Public Prosecutor and Public Solicitor.