Transcript
Meleane Taueli: Six of them were in relation with criminal matters, four have been taken to court pending court hearing and two are still under investigation and those two cases are in regards to assault and one with bribery.
Koro Vaka'uta: The four for court, were they similar types of offences?
MT: Those cases, one was theft, one was interference with course of justice and then traffic offences.
KV: The work you are doing his continuing, there are also 16 other criminal investigations, what kind of offences do they cover?
MT: The majority are to do with use of force which resulted in complaints of assault and also allegations of bribery.
KV: These investigations, are police working to change this kind of behaviour?
MT: Yes, I think that is part of the PSU [Police Standards Unit] responsibility but we also do awareness to our officers.
KV: To reinforce the standards that have been set both by your unit and the commissioner?
MT: Yes. What I am trying to say is that is part of our role in the Professional Standards Unit, is enhancing the professionalism of our police officers.
KV: I understand there are also 38 disciplinary investigations, what are they for?
MT: That is the breach of our policy and the majority of disciplinary breaches was to do with lack of duty and behavioural issues. That was the most reported disciplinary offences.
KV: How long do you think these investigations will take?
MT: It will depend on the investigators when they have enough evidence to submit those case files to court or to submit to our employment committee if it is a disciplinary issue.
KV: There have been four extra investigators approved to join the unit. You seem to be doing a lot of work, is this more than you have done in the past?
MT: There were six of us, three investigators, but initially there were six staff. The organisation has approved four extra investigators and three have been seconded here and I totally believe that this will quicken the investigations undertaken by this unit.
KV: What is the message to other officers when they see these suspensions and these people being disciplined?
MT: I think the message they should get is to do according to the law of Tonga and also to the policies of the Tonga Police.
KV: And you are confident that through your work, the Tongan police will be able to be seen as exemplary from the public?
MT: I totally believe that the work undertaken by this unit will assist in our police officers doing the right thing. We identify some of the issues that people complain about and we are going to do an awareness to our police officers for them to comply with the law and also the police rules.
KV: How do you change this type of behaviour?
MT: I think it will be hard to change the behaviour but we will try. Probably awareness and also not only to the members but also to our managers and those people on supervisor level. Of course people will still complain. We did participate in a police public awareness this year and after that campaign it seemed that the number of complaints starting increasing. People, they have the confidence to come out and complain against police.
