Solomon's police chief says impact of RAMSI exit minimal

Transcript

MATTHEW VARLEY: Well RAMSI is finishing but I guess the important point to make is that the RSIPF has had responsibility for frontline policing services in Solomon Islands for several years now and that has been part of a four year drawdown strategy and what that means really is that the police have already been doing the job. By and large I think the community will notice very little change. Sure all of the support behind RAMSI has finished but we have worked long and hard to make sure that the police are ready to do their job. They have been proving themselves for a few years now. So I think we are ready to do the job but I guess the point is that apart from some of the RAMSI infrastructure leaving some of the RAMSI support services leaving the public by and large should notice very little change.

KOROI HAWKINS: Now that it is actually here so now that Solomon Islands is on its own what are some of the major challenges you see coming up?

MV: I think the challenge is, for the police force, is to continue to do the job that we have been trained to do. We have done a lot of work making sure that police stations have been rebuilt, we have done a lot of work retraining and recruiting new police officers but the message that I have been saying to my police is that the real hard work for us starts from the first of July and that means getting out there making sure that the community understands that the police force is strong, the police force is trustworthy. So we are not taking that responsibility lightly we are still going to be out there doing our high visibility policing doing our crime prevention, doing our investigations.

KH: I guess walking around talking to people in the community there is sort of a mental image if you like of RAMSI being the good or the bringer of all good in Solomon Islands and it leaving has caused a bit of anxiety amongst people especially women are concerned about where Solomon Islands is and just uncertainty about the future. What would you say to Solomon Islanders now?

MV: I can understand that and I think it is easy for people to forget that only 14 short years ago this was a society in conflict and this was a police force that was completely broken and a government that had lost control. We know that the police force at the time was responsible for some of the crimes that were committed we haven't forgotten that and we understand why people are concerned about RAMSI leaving. But RAMSI and us have done a lot of work to try and allay those fears as we said before more than two thirds of the police force has been recruited since that period. It is an entirely new executive leadership team and we have worked very hard to explain those changes to the community but also to I guess grow a new policing culture inside the RSIPF one that is based on discipline one that is based on accountability and all of our officers have gone through exceptional amounts of training to change the police officers' mindsets so this has been a complete re-engineering of the police force from the inside out. But it is easy for me to say that I guess and I don't expect people to take my word for it. What we are trying to do is prove everyday that we will do the best job that we can. That this is a police force that the community of Solomon Islands should be proud of but we still have to earn that trust everyday.