POLICE CHIEF QILIHO
VISITS NAUSORI TOWN
Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho patrolled the streets of Nausori Town yesterday as part of a strategy to engage members of the public in efforts to combat crime.
As well as meeting Police recruits, Mr Qiliho spoke to people to assess their feedback on his officers’ performance.
“Over the years, it has become more or less symbolic that the Police Commissioner and senior officers do beat patrolling near the New Year,” he said.
“It’s a good time to talk to people on the streets on how police has been performing over Christmas. Generally they’ve been happy.”
The visit generally drew positive reactions, however there were a few who voiced their concerns. Mun Sami, 70, and his wife Laxmi, who have been vendors at Nausori Market for close to four decades, felt re-assured by the commissioner’s visit.
Mr Sami said they felt really good that such a huge figure like the police commissioner came and visited them in their modest stall. “He asked about our business and said he was really happy to see us working hard together at this market for so many years,” Mr Sami said.
Narayan Swamy of Davuilevu said the force could improve in a few areas like efficiency. “This year is much better than previous years, but they could be able to catch criminals more often if they arrived on time after receiving calls,” Mr Swamy said. In addressing the concerns for those who were unhappy the commissioner said they were out there and are doing what they could. “Unfortunately, we cannot please everyone so we ask people who are not happy to let us know and we will try and sort out these issues,” Mr Qiliho said.
A festive operation, launched on December 15, is underway and has police working overtime to confront a rise in drug-related crimes that has seen arrests increase by 35 per cent.
Gains also made by ‘opportunistic’ criminals have proved an additional source of annoyance for police, prompting far-reaching deployments to address the trend. Last week, Assistant Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu said more officers would be present on the streets in an operation that would not give criminals “any room to strike”.
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