The Australian Federal Police in collaboration with the New Zealand Police have been conducting a series of workshops designed at enhancing Command and Control capabilities of Fijian Police officers during major incidents.

The Pacific Command and Control Incident Management Program is aimed at creating a philosophy of command and coordination amongst Police officers of all ranks.

Facilitating the training was Australian Federal Police Liaison Officer Superintendent of Police (SP) Glen Fisher who says the program is similar to a course delivered within the Australian Federal Police Force and other Australian Police Forces and emergency service providers including Fire and Ambulance services.

“This course came about after working closely with the Fiji Police during COVID-19 in partnership with law enforcement officers from New Zealand Police and the United States and have been exchanging ideas and lessons learnt from policing during the pandemic”.

“This program was designed for Fiji and is consistent with training in Australia, and the AFP is working with the New Zealand Police to deliver the training in the Pacific and this package has been tailor made for the Pacific environment”.

SP Fisher said Fiji’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic situation has been commendable.

“The challenges in policing the world over have been unique and majority have never experienced policing in a pandemic situation as operations has been required to be fluid in our responses to support government initiatives aimed not just at containing the spread of COVID-19 but to reassure the public that we have a safe and protected environment”.

The training programme will be incorporated into Fiji’s training packages that will be delivered under the Pacific Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation under the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police umbrella as Fiji has been indentified as a leading center for training for its regional partners