Top Cops Celebrate 50years of Building Safer And More Secure Communities
Fiji will host the 50th Anniversary of the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police (PICP) which starts today. The anniversary was supposed to be celebrated in 2020 but because of COVID-19, it was postponed.
The anniversary is aligned with the 49th PICP Annual Conference with the theme “Workforce Wellbeing and Resilience” that starts today at the Hilton Fiji Beach Resort and Spa in Denarau, Nadi.
It also aligns with the 20th anniversary of the Pacific Transnational Crime Network and the 10th anniversary of the Cyber Safety Pasifika Programme.
The PICP was founded in 1970 in Suva. It is one of the oldest regional bodies in the Pacific. Over the past 50 years, the PICP has worked continuously to build safer and more secure communities by improving policing. Fiji’s Commissioner of Police, Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho has been the PICP chair for the past two years.
This year, he will hand over the reins to Commissioner Robert A Guerrero as the Commissioner of Public Safety for the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. Brigadier-General Qiliho said the theme was built on the need for consolidated efforts.
“To not only address and mitigate the impacts of new and emerging security threats in the Pacific, but to ensure we have resilient workforces able to weather the storms of uncertainty and unpredictability in the next 50 years,” he said.
The confirmation of observers are the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Institute of Police Management, Pacific Islands Emergency Management Alliance/ the Pacific Community (SPC), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Joint Interagency Task Force West, Pacific Fusion Centre, UK National Crime Agency (Canberra), Australia Pacific Security College, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Office of Special Investigations, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. Attending virtually are Police Commissioners from the Marshall Islands and Tokelau.
Feedback: ashna.kumar@fijisun.com.fj
