Southern Highlands police headquarters, Mendi. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
The Papua New Guinea government has been blamed for neglecting the policing needs of the country.
East Sepik Province governor and MP Allan Bird said "all provinces are neglected" because the government is focusing "on the three richest provinces".
Bird said that his own troops had been deployed to the highlands for over 20 years, but there have been no significant improvements despite considerable investment.
He said he had three provincial police commanders in his time as governor, and each one told him they did not have enough manpower.
"My province is bigger than Fiji as a country," he said.
"The population in my part of the world is also bigger. Fiji has about 5000 policemen for that whole country.
"In East Sepik, I have 155 [policemen]...that declined from about 300 maybe 20 years ago. We need at least 1000 policeman."
He said the decline was due to neglect by those in power, calling for the state to intervene.
He pointed out that the violent killing in the highlands last month was a result of over two decades of neglect.
"Justice needs to be meted out by a third party," he said.
"What's been happening in a lot of these places is that there's a big gathering [after a crime], and then [those involved offer compensation], they pay some money or kill some pigs. And everyone says everything's fine.
"But there's a little kid who might be seven years old at the time, and his father got murdered, or his mother was raped and murdered, or whatever the crime was, 20 years later that's the young person that is taking taking the revenge."
Allan Bird Photo: Facobook / Allan Bird
Bird said that, to address some of the issues, the police commissioner had recently approved the recruitment of 200 police reserves.
"Hopefully in a couple of months, East people will have 200 reserve police officers.
The East Sepik government is also building two police barracks so it can bring in regular policemen who are graduating from the colleges, he said.
"We should get about another 80 regular policemen by the end of this year."
He points out that his own troops have been deployed to the highlands for over 20 years, yet despite considerable investments in that region, there have been no significant improvements.
Bird said Papua New Guinea was applying Melanesian concepts of conflict resolution, but they were not working.
"I think the Melanesian way of doing things is already degraded, there's no more respect for our Melanesian ways of doing things.
"You have got to apply the full concept of a modern state to the dispensation of justice."
Earlier this month, Prime Minister James Marape said, while "much room remains for improvement" to law and order, "the reality is that law enforcement is making progress".
Marape warned PNG youth to "not underestimate the power of the police".
"Even if it may seem like nothing is happening today, the police have a long memory, and they will catch up with criminals sooner or later," he said in a statement on 4 March.
"Law enforcement agencies are now using artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced ICT platforms to enhance crime investigations.
He added parliament will amend necessary laws to ensure our security forces are fully equipped to deal with modern crime.
