RSIPF Executive to benefit from IT equipment for COVID-19 operation

Members of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) Executive will benefit from eight laptops funded by the Australian Government through the Solomon Island Police Development Program (SIPDP) to assist in the COVID-19 operation.

Commander of SIPDP Mark Ney handed over the laptops to the Commissioner of Police, Mostyn Mangau during a brief ceremony at the Rove Police Headquarters in Honiara today (28 October 2020).

The project cost $110,000.00. The Solomon Islands Government’s Information and Communication Technology Support Unit (SIG ICTSU) recommended the laptops and they were purchased through a local company.

Commissioner Mangau says, “The SIPDP continues to provide capacity to the RSIPF in a number of ways during the COVID-19 operation as we combine our resources with other Solomon Islands Government agencies to keep the country safe from the virus.”

“This includes the completion and handover recently of a dedicated RSIPF quarantine facility at the Tetere Police Station on North Guadalcanal to be utilised if an RSIPF officer falls sick with the virus as a result of their frontline duties. At the end of the COVID-19, the facility will be converted into housing for officers at the Tetere Police Station.”

“This current project with the gifting of the eight HP laptops is also about RSIPF COVID-19 preparedness and response. With the laptops members of the RSIPF Executive will be able to work from home in a business continuity scenario, particularly in a COVID-19 community transmission and lockdown environment,” Commissioner Mangau explains.

“What enhances this capability is the fact that SIG ICTSU has aligned with one of their own projects with it. ICTSU have successfully tested a remote Wi-Fi 3G-connectivity solution for the senior executive to access SIGnet from any location about the city with Telekom service. This is a good example of Mission dovetailing a fully funded capability with a corresponding stakeholder capability to meet a developing need in the RSIPF,” says Commissioner Mangau.