RSIPF WAN AGM highlights successes

Participating women officers at the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) Women Advisory Network (WAN) annual general meeting currently underway at the Rove Police Headquarters in Honiara have been told about the achievements of the WAN since it was established in 2004

RSIPF WAN is part of the Pacific Islands Chief of Police (PICP) Women Advisory Network formed to provide timely and effective advice to Pacific Chiefs of Police in relation to issues impacting on women in policing around the region.
Assistant Commissioner National Operation Evelyn Thugea told the RSIPF WAN AGM, “The PICP have successfully endorsed WAN to become an advisory working group for the Commissioners. The women’s network is working at maximising women’s contribution to women in policing. This led to the formation of the RSIPF WAN.”
The vision and mission of the RSIPF WAN is to:

• Empower women in policing to ensure they are valued and recognized as essential to the safety and security of the Solomon Islands communities.

• Support and enhance the contributions of women in the RSIPF. As women in policing, we agree to work together with the RSIPF Executive and all RSIPF members to support the contribution women make in policing in the Solomon Islands. We further commit to supporting the PICP WAN to realize their vision of ‘Our Blue Pacific: Safer Together’. Collectively, we believe it is important to act with integrity, resilience, inclusiveness and commitment; and

• Strengthen policing across our ‘Blue Pacific’ through the equal and full participation of women.

AC Thugea says, “The Australian Federal Police continues to support PICP WAN – through the PICP Secretariat who are responsible for coordinating and facilitating its annual meeting and activities.”

“Since 2004, the RSIPF WAN has made significant progress in advancing gender issues in the Force and more broadly throughout the community. Some of the achievements include:

• The main WAN committee elected and PICP representative selected;
• Establishment of a Sexual Assault Unit within the RSIPF headed by a female officer;
• Women officers deployed across organisation departments and units;
• Training opportunities;
• Probation women officers not discharged if pregnant without being married;
• The establishment of the RSIPF Sexual Harassment Policy;
• Establishment of a Gender Coordinator position;
• A gender sensitive RSIPF Recruitment Policy;
• A new RSIPF Uniform Policy allowing women officers to wear long pants; and
• A Gender Policy.”

“Despite all these successes, there has also been challenges. There is a lot more work to be done to achieve the vision and mission of the RSIPF WAN. Let us all work together among ourselves as women police officers and with our male colleague officers,” says AC Thugea.

“The onus will be on the new WAN committee members that will be elected during this AGM. Our achievements and successes need collaboration, cooperation and determination of all women in the RSIPF to talk, work and act together.”

“We need a change of attitude towards work, towards each other, the community, our organization, RSIPF and policing as a whole. Only then will we be able to achieve our aims and objectives,” says AC Thugea.