Samoa's police commissioner says the latest recruitment drive won't be enough to ease staffing concerns.
Samoa's Police Commissioner Egon Keil Photo: RNZI / Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia
Egon Keil says 70 recruits were selected from 500 applicants this month and they are now undertaking a 16 week intensive training course.
Mr Keil says the number will drop further as generally only 60 percent of recruits complete the training.
The commissioner says the force needs at least another 100 officers to reach optimum staffing levels and it will take a while to get there.
"It's a constant recruiting process and retention process so we have to make sure that our people are trained and they are happy here. That we continue with promotions, on merit of course and we work on salaries and a lot of incentive programmes because we are trying to recruit the best here for the Samoan police and it's not an easy task."
Egon Keil says the next recruitment drive will be in November.
