"People are the heart of Policing"

The Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police (PICP) biannual Executive Leadership Team (ELT) Meeting got underway with the Chairman and Fiji's Commissioner of Police Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho reminding the participants of the purpose they all serve in protecting the people of the Pacific.

PICP Chair Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho, while delivering his opening remarks, reminded the participants that the beneficiaries of the decisions and outcomes of the ELT meeting will be the current and future generations of the Pacific.

“People are the heart of policing, whether it be the people we serve, or the people we lead”.

“This is our home – and we will continue to fight to keep it safe.

There have been lessons learnt in 2021, and we now have the opportunity to set our security priorities for 2022”.

The PICP Chair said a lot had been achieved amid the challenges of the pandemic, and acknowledged the support of fellow Pacific Chiefs of Police, the PICP Secretariat and supporting regional and international partners.

“Together we must correlate the challenges of the security and criminal landscape to our roles, and the mandates given to us by Pacific leaders as stipulated in our PICP vision of “Our Blue Pacific; Safer Together”.

The meeting was chaired by Fiji’s Deputy Commissioner of Police Itendra Nair.

In attendance were the Commissioners of Northern Mariana Islands (PICP Deputy Chair), Niue, Vanuatu, Guam, Australian Federal Police, New Zealand Police and Samoa’s Acting Commissioner.

Also present were the Women Advisory Network Chair Fiji Police’s Senior Superintendent of Police Bereta Naisua, representatives of New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Department Foreign Affairs and Trade, Pacific Transnational Crime Coordination Centre, Pacific Police Development Program-Regional, Pacific Facility of Policing, Pacific Community for Law Enforcement Cooperation and the Pacific Transnational Crime Network.

The meeting covered PICP programme updates which included the Women’s Advisory Network, Pacific Islands Prevention Program, Pacific Forensic Working Group, Pacific Police Training Advisory Group, Cyber Safety Pasifika, Road Safety Pacific, Gender and Family Harm and the Pacific Community for Law Enforcement Cooperation.

The next ELT meeting is scheduled for February 2022 in Manly, Sydney.