Qiliho Praises Government Investment Into Police
The Commissioner of Police has thanked the Fijian Government for their big support and investment into the Fiji Police Force.
In the 2016-2017 National Budget, the Government had announced a salary increment for Police Special Constables with a pay rise of 20 per cent.
In the 2017-2018 National Budget, the Fiji Police Force received an increase in their budget to cater for an increase in salaries and wages to carry out the Force’s job evaluation exercise.
In the 2018-2019 National Budget, the Government restructured human resources within the Police to regularise more than 600 Special Constables and other Government wage earners within the Force.
Police Commissioner, BrigadierGeneral Sitiveni Qiliho said the biggest investment made by the Government was the infrastructure projects with three major Police Stations which will be commissioned soon.
The Police Commissioner said there had been a big increase in the budget provisions for the Fiji Police Force.
“That is the biggest investment ever into Police infrastructure by any Government,” Brigadier-General Qiliho said.
“As part of our approved restructure which looks at manpower, it also looks at infrastructure to go with that hence those three first major projects are established in densely populated areas.”
These are the Lautoka Police Station with an investment of $29.8 million, Nadi Police Station with an investment of $19.7 million, and Nakasi Police Station with an investment of $35.8 million and an additional $1 million for the purchase of land for the Nakasi Police Station.
The Nakasi Police Station will also have a Police Barracks.
The Government also invested into the fleet services of the Fiji Police Force.
Currently, the Force has 340 vehicles following the lease arrangement which was introduced by the Government compared of 139 vehicles before the lease arrangement.
The Force has 163 motorcycles now compared to 20 motorcycles before this Government, with 25 WaterPol boats and 11 rib boats with the biggest boat being 16 metres.
The boats are used for search and rescue, quick assistance in natural disasters and other WaterPol activities.
Another investment is of the Nasova Dog Kennel (K9 unit) worth $700,000.
The New Kennel will be used as a training facility for new K9s to supplement operational requirements to the Central and Eastern Divisions.
The old K9 structure was built in the 1960s, and needed to be upgraded to meet the current demand, the Fiji Police Force had requested for Government funding for the demolition and construction of new Nasova Dog Kennel.
The K9 Unit has been instrumental in high volumes of drug seizures, tracking of suspects in robberies, undeclared currency and a case of firearms and ammunitions.
The Police Commissioner said Government has made a big investment into the new K9 facility which should be ready by mid-December.
He said the breeding programmes were now in progress in New Zealand and two dog handlers were in New Zealand as part of the preparations for 10 to 12 German Shepherd pups to come across for training.
He added that the Force also invested in Belgian Malinois dogs which were already in operation working with the Force located in Nausori.
As part of our approved restructure which looks at manpower, it also looks at infrastructure to go with that hence those three first major projects are established in densely populated areas.
Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho Police Commissioner