Defence Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola has condemned concerns raised by Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Aseri Radrodro regarding the current Fiji Police Recruitment drive.

Last week Mr Radrodro labelled the recruitment drive as illogical and discriminatory following the turning away of avid applicants.

Mr Radrodro had also questioned the logic of the recruitment given this could eliminate potential officers and also discriminate those who may come from less well-off families.

“The selection criteria with regards to the Police Recruitment Drive was done with a purpose so as to meet the current needs of the organisation and was not merely plucked out of thin air,” Ratu Inoke said.

The two criteria to the on-going recruitment drive are that applicants must have a valid manual driver’s license and must be computer literate.

“The Fiji Police Force is currently facing a shortage of drivers compared to the number of vehicles that were recently acquired,” he said.

“With another batch of vehicles earmarked to be received in the not too distant future, there is an urgent need to address the shortage of drivers to meet the demands placed on its services.”

The recruitment drive was to not only address the shortage of drivers on a short term basis but long term as well to avoid the complaints made against the organisation.

This is to also assist drivers meet the international requirements when officers are deployed for overseas missions.

Police officers are first and foremost police officers and will conduct their duties accordingly if and when they are required to drive there will not be any excuse.

Ratu Inoke added that as for the criteria of being computer literate, it was mandatory as officers needed to be able to operate a computer.

This is considering the advancement of technology and the needs set out by the Judiciary whereby all documents need to be typed out.

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