The Solomon Islands police commissioner, William Morrell, says he wants to remove those police officers not committed to the job.
He says during a tour of Malaita last week he was struck by the numbers of regular police who failed to turn up to work.
Mr Morrell says he is now focussed on establishing why this is the case, and if there is no good reason, then those officers should be discharged from the service.
He says it's not a pay issue.
"The government despite the constraints on it is still paying the wages, albeit they're slightly late, no this is an issue for me, that it's part of a pruning programme, to make the Solomon Islands police service more accountable, more professional, and that's what we're setting out to try and do."
