Fiji Police Force Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho will chair the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police Conference which will be held in Nadi from August 24 to August 26. The theme of the conference is Workforce Well-being and Resilience.
This will be the first in-person conference since 2019 and provides a timely opportunity to bring the Pacific Police Chiefs and Commissioners together to discuss common issues.
It will also mark several key milestones, including the 50th Anniversary of the PICP which was postponed from 2020, the 20th Anniversary of the Pacific Transnational Crime Network and the 10th Anniversary of the Cyber Safety Pasifika Programme.
During such forums they will discuss drugs because it cannot be dealt with in isolation. Brigadier-General Qiliho said the issue of drugs could not be addressed by the Police alone.
“It is not about the police alone, it is about the community getting together and there are a lot that needs to be done. It is not something that is unique only to Fiji,” Brigadier-General Qiliho said.
“The region and the world is experiencing an upsurge in methamphetamine manufacture and usage and we are not immune to that. It is all about the consolidated approach that we have to look at tacking as a region.”
“There are other stakeholders starting from the home right up to the region that deals with this issue. We share information with our foreign counterparts in antinarcotic operations and interdictions and that is an ongoing process.”
Brigadier-General Qiliho said they do not only focus on marijuana but other drugs too.
“People tend to believe that we are focused on uprooting marijuana but that is a small part of it,” he said.
“There is more man power. There are more hours and more effort directed towards dealing with hard drugs compared to marijuana.”
“As we speak, on July 20 we destroyed 61, 000 marijuana plants in Kadavu as uprooting, testing and court decisions came through, but from July 20 until now there have been more than 5,000 plants and we have court approval for its destruction as well.”
“We have a team led by the chief of operation, court representatives and other key stakeholders that are going across in a police boat. They should be there now (Thursday) to witness that destruction as well.”
“Applications have been done now for marijuana and other drugs in our possession to go through this. It takes away the temptation for those who are tempted in trying to get that and sold again.”
That is something people will try to do and corrupt police officers that happens in the world and that is what we are trying to avoid.
“For years I have been trying to do this and finally we got that system and we have got a standard operating procedure that simplified the process for officers that are involved in the investigation of getting that court approval for the destruction and Kadavu has been a good example of that.”
“It is uprooted within three to four days and we get the destruction order to destroy it there straight away.
“We have had it in the past where these things go missing and that is why we are going through this process.”
“All the drugs we have in exhibit we are trying to get tested and get the court approval and get tested and get the court approval and get them destroyed.”
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