‘Work Together to Keep our Communities Safe’
The Acting Commissioner of Police, Rusiate Tudravu has reiterated that all citizens must join hands and work together to keep all communities safe. Mr Tudravu made this statement when officially opening the Western Division Community Policing Symposium at the Tanoa Waterfront Hotel in Lautoka on Monday.
This came after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Fiji Police Force and the Pacific Centre for Peacebuilding.
He said the Western Division had been in the spotlight for many reasons and over the past year this was even more so with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Though we have seen how western communities have come together to assist those who have been impacted, that is the beauty of the Fijian way of life because we may have our differences because when the going gets tough, we are able to see past the differences and lend a helping hand,” he said.
“The resilience and the will to fight have never been stronger to help people to get back to their feet. This is the essence of why we would like to have the symposium here in Lautoka.
“We need to work together, the fight to keep our communities safe from criminal elements among us.”
He said the purpose of the twoday symposium was for all the stakeholders, personnel from Police, community leaders including non government organisations to hear from each other and discuss a way forward.
“During this first symposium we will be marking some significant changes and this milestone in our community policing journey, there will be changes in the names of our heads of our crime committee chairs to community coordinators,” he added.
The official opening was also followed by the launch of the Duavata Manual.
Mr Tudravu also had the opportunity to badge the respective community co-ordinators.