Commissioner of Police, Matthew Varley opened the Operational Safety Training (OST) Instructors Course for about forty officers on Monday, 28 May 2018 at Rove Police Headquarters.
For the first time ever, the RSIPF is also hosting ten operational officers from the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) on the program, due to a joint agreement between the RSIPF and RPNGC, supported and funded by the Australian Federal Police.
The PNG officers will be certified as police Operational Safety Training instructors and will return to PNG to train and qualify other RPNGC officers in the lead up to APEC in November 2018.
The 30 RSIPF instructors are mostly from the provinces and will play a key role in ensuring our police are ready for the National General Election in early 2019.
The course will qualify the participants as police Operational Safety Training Instructors who will then be able to train other police officers in policing safety tactics such as conflict communication and de-escalation techniques, handcuffs, batons and capsicum spray use, as well as public order (riot) control.
Commissioner Varley says during the opening of the training, “I welcome you all to the police training facility here at Rove Police Headquarters. To the ten officers of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) who are here, welcome to Solomon Islands. You are among friends with your colleague officers from the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF).”
He adds: “The ten RPNGC officers are here in the country following my discussions with Commissioner of the RPNGC, Mr Gary Baki on 30 April 2018, during the 3rd Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Police Minister’s Meeting in, Papua New Guinea. The RSIPF offered to assist RPNGC with specialised training for their officers in the lead up to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Port Moresby later this year.”
He says, “The ten RPNGC officers will do defensive tactics, Public Order Management (POM) and firearms training together with RSIPF members.”
He adds: “The RSIPF is proud to provide OST and firearms training to the RPNGC officers, as this shows that the RSIPF is a regional leader in this type of training. We are ready to give back to our regional partners, following the departure of RAMSI last year.”
He says, “The RSIPF has also recently been involved in providing similar training to other Pacific Police Forces, such as Samoa.”
“For the RSIPF officers who are here, this is an ongoing training to certify more instructors for various provincial police stations across the country. You will be responsible for training our officers to maintain and develop their skills to deal with potentially difficult and dangerous situations. Police officers must maintain their operational safety qualifications so that they can continue to protect themselves, each other and the community. The use of force is one of the greatest responsibilities held by police officers and must always be exercised with care, diligence and according to the law” says Commissioner Varley.
The training course will continue for the next five weeks.