Fiji Needs More Drug Analysts

The war against drugs is slowly taking a toll on the Fiji Police Force’s Forensic Chemistry Unit (FCU) laboratory.

With more drugs continuously confiscated by Police, the manpower within the unit to conduct tests and analysis is becoming a problem.

Unit principal scientific officer, Miliana Werebauinona, during her presentation at the 2024 Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) Annual Conference on Friday, said with close to 3000 drug cases entering the unit, there were only nine certified scientific drug analysts who were tasked with analysing the drug cases before they reached Court.

Ms Werebauinona is Fiji’s first drug analyst certified by the Institute for Environmental Scientific Research (IESR) in New Zealand in 2012.

“For the increasing drug cases, the Fiji Police Force Forensic Unit needs more manpower and technical support,” Ms Werebauinona said.

“The Police Forensics Chemistry Lab is lucky to have the support of Government in the procurement of lab equipment.

“This expanded its capabilities to meet the demands. As the crime trends shift, the needs of the lab will also have to change to suit the needs of law enforcement.”

Last year, the unit analysed 2666 drug cases. Ms Werebauinona said as of Friday morning, they received 2399 drug cases.

This is expected to increase by the end of the year.

“Yes, this is urgent, and our request was made and submitted to the Police Human Resources Department through the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police Crime and through the director Forensics.

“It would be ideal if the labs were not under the Fiji Police Force because there are a lot of red tapes to go through when it comes to pushing ahead with the lab requirements for capacity building and development,” she said.

“Due to the high number of drug cases handled, one major challenge is the attendance of court cases just to present the drug report.

“This has affected our daily operations, especially when all drug analysts are expected to be in court in various locations on the same day.”

Ms Werebauinona said it would be ideal to have at least three drug analysts per division with more labs open to spread out the services provided by the lab.

“We have one stationed in Labasa to cater for the Northern Division and one based in Lautoka for the Western Division,” Ms Werebauinona said.

“We also provide drug analysis to other Pacific Islands such as Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Nauru. They bring their samples to us and we analyse and provide reports.”

Ms Werebauinona said although there was a limited administrative process, the unit was adamant in ensuring that its role against illicit drugs was efficiently done.

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