Acting Commissioner of Police Isikeli Sauliga told officers leaving for peacekeeping yesterday not to tarnish the force’s reputation.

“We cannot afford to tarnish the reputation of Fiji and the Fiji Police Force,” ACP Sauliga told the 11 Police officers bound for South Sudan.

The officers will be away for one year under the United Nations Assistance Mission (South Sudan in North Africa has recently been wracked by internal confliccts).

The contingent presented their itatau to the Acting Commissioner yesterday at the Police Headquarters.

“You are representative of the Commissioner of Police and our country and it is therefore imperative that you conduct yourself professionally at all times,”  he said.

“Once you are in a mission area, you may be under the leadership of an officer from another country, but that does not take away the fact that you are still a member of the Fiji Police Force and the same rules that govern your work here will also apply to you there”.

The contingent will be led by Acting Superintendent of Police (A/SP) Meli Sateki.

The Acting Commissioner urged the officers to support their Contingent Commander.

“You will no longer be under our watchful eyes and this is where our role is taken over by your Contingent Commander so you must show him respect at all times as he will also be sending us reports on your work”.

“The mission environment is often an ideal place to identify future leaders because you are left on your own and your ability to perform with little to no supervision will show us your capabilities”.

“Go as a team, remain as one, come back as a team and be rest assured that we will look after your families”.

The contingent departs from Fiji on Sunday.

There are currently 41 Police officers deployed under UNMISS, UNAMID, MFO (Sinai), UNDOF (Golan Heights), UNFIL (Lebanon), UNAMI (Iraq).