Solomons Police – a strong and effective force

OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL COORDINATOR

REGIONAL ASSISTANCE MISSION TO SOLOMON ISLANDS

MEDIA RELEASE Thursday 29th March 2007

Solomon Islands Police – a strong and effective force

RAMSI Special Coordinator Tim George has congratulated the Solomon Islands police for the hard work that has transformed them from a troubled organisation to a strong, effective and professional police force.

Speaking to representatives from the Pacific anti-corruption group, Transparency International, Mr George said a well-governed, professional police force is central to Solomon Islands efforts to combat corruption.

“The transformation of the Solomon Islands Police Force (SIPF) has been fundamental to much of the progress that has been achieved by Solomon Islanders, with RAMSI’s assistance, in other areas of national life,” Mr George said.

“From a low point, the SIPF has achieved a painful but radical internal reform that, I believe, far outstrips any similar reforms attempted in the past few decades by other forces in the region.”

The Special Coordinator noted the commitment of the acting Police Commissioner Walter Kola and Assistant Commissioner of Strategic Directions and Performance Eddie Sikua to the reform process.

Mr George said the SIPF has been working with RAMSI’s Participating Police Force (PPF) on strategic planning, good governance practices, internal inspection audits and a proactive complaints regime.

“I congratulate the SIPF. To achieve the shift in attitude and behaviour that has occurred is remarkable and it is a testament to the many decent, hard-working Solomon Islands police who have seized the opportunity to remake their force.”

The Special Coordinator noted that the corrosive impact of corruption in undermining institutions and people’s confidence in them has far reaching consequences in small developing nations which are still in the process of building their economies, basic infrastructure and integrity systems.

“Exposing the link between corruption and arrested development, allowing people to join the dots that connect the moral state of their leaders and their nation with its economic health, is one of the keys to combating corruption,” he said.

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