An overall reduction in crime rate has been recorded from January till June of this year.

This is a great indication of how our Police officers have been successful in dealing with criminal activities in the country, moreso under the leadership of Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho.

The Fiji Police Force has managed to record a reduction in overall crime rate during the period of January to June 2016.

Police benchmarked reductions in overall crime, serious crime, crime against women and children, road fatalities and complaints against Police.

However, although crime against women and children has reduced by two per cent, children as young as three and five month’s old were victims to crimes such as assault.

The number of women who have come up to lodge various complaints is also indicative of how our women are becoming more aware of avenues available to them and the path they can take to seek justice.

Reports for the past six months show that:

Overall crime rate decreased by six per cent

Serious crimes rate decreased by five per cent

Road fatalities decreased by 23 per cent

Complaints and disciplinary offenses decreased by two per cent

Crime against women and children decreased by two per cent

The worrying trend however is that the Fiji Police Force report showed that 34 cases involved children up to the age of five years old.

These cases included rape, sexual assault, attempted murder and attempted rape.

The report recorded a reduction in overall crime rates by 10 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Our Police officers often get the flak for a lot of things.  Right now they need to be praised.

Another issue of concern that Acting Prime Minister and Attorney -General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum mentioned last night during the Speakers Debate was the high number of people who reoffend and end up back at our corrections facility.

Here the Yellow Ribbon campaign has played an important part in the rehabilitation of those who are serious about turning their lives around.

Repeat offenders rather than new offenders have been a worry for our force for some time.

To an extent successful rehabilitation is also a contributing factor to overall crime reduction.

So a collective kudos to our men and women in blue and also to our Corrections team for this achievement.

Jyoti pratibha