The Papua New Guinea police chief says he is determined to address misconduct problems within the force after it was revealed over 1600 complaints of police abuse have been filed in the past seven years.
Gary Baki has declared 2016 will be the year ill-discipline and police brutality are stamped out.
He says figures from the internal affairs directorate which show 326 criminal cases among the complaints are deeply concerning.
"It just goes to show we are not on top of that kind of behaviour that are happening within the organisation and we are not knowing fully well what our men and women are doing outside of the organisation until it's being reported. The record is too high. We need to clamp down on it and make sure it does not follow that same kind of pattern."
Gary Baki says he is also focussed on closing the gap between the number of dismissals recommended and eventually actioned.
Only 274 out of 600 dismissals recommended were actually carried out between 2007 and 2014.
Papua New Guinea police officers watch on during a protest rally. Photo: AFP
