Petty crime is surging again on the streets of Papua New Guinea's city of Lae amid funding constraints to the local administration.
This was revealed by Lae City Mayor Roy Kamen while talking about law and order issues in PNG's second biggest city.
Lae city, Papua New Guinea. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
According to Mr Kamen, increased patrols by police in the past year had helped maintain some control. But he said that the absence of city rangers to assist police in minimising law and order issues was being felt in Lae.
"The provincial government had previously assisted the city council in providing funding for city rangers to monitor the bus stops in the town area to try and minimise pick-pocketing and petty crime that have been occurring on the streets," he explained.
"But due to the funding situations, they have stopped, and recently there has been an increase in these activities again."
Roy Kamen was hopeful that there would be funding in the coming year to make the city rangers part of an ongoing programme.
The city's reputation for crime has started to rival Port Moresby, although the PNG capital is much larger.
A number of publicised sorcery-related attacks have occurred in Lae in the past two months. In one case, police managed to rescue a woman accused of sorcery from what they described as a sacrificial fire.
Funding is tight at the Lae District Administration. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
Despite growing outrage over such attacks, Mr Kamen said belief in sorcery was part of PNG's culture, and remained difficult to eradicate.
He said that because Lae city is surrounded by settlements - informal urban villages for in-migrants - sorcery-related incidents are an ongoing problem.
"Unless we get down to the real nitty-gritty of what's happening in the settlements, then I think there'll be some control over this sorcery situation.
"Otherwise it will still be practiced because the environment in the settlements are inviting for such practices to be carried out... we can't stop it," said Mr Kamen.
The Mayor said that consumption of alcohol and home brew loomed as the biggest impediment to law and order over the upcoming festive season.
The Lae metropolitan police commander Anthony Wagambie, considered among the best police commanders in PNG, is planning for policing over the festive season with limited resources.
He said Lae was a challenging place for police "because of the large number of ethnic group of people and the shortage of (police) manpower".
Mr Wagambie had requested assistance from relevant authorities, and indicated that in the meantime, most of his police officers would work double shifts in the suburbs in an effort to maintain law and order in Lae.
