myAIPMPolicing and pandemics
Nick Thomson | Asia & the Pacific Policy Society
Nick Thomson looks at how to unlock the public health partnership potential for Pacific policing services.
"In response to the threat of COVID-19 across the Pacific Islands, we have seen Pacific Police Services (PPS) mobilized in different ways with varying degrees of authority and success.
The most common use of PPS has been in the enforcement of States of Emergency (SoE). In Papua New Guinea (PNG), the Police Commissioner was made the Emergency Controller overseeing the implementation of the SoE, but efforts in the country need to be more strongly complemented by public education.
In Fiji, the Police and the Military took charge of the enforcement of curfews, lockdowns and social gathering restrictions, including establishing roadblocks and police checkpoints to prevent travel between towns and cities. Quick action to monitor and quarantine new cases has kept COVID-19 in Fiji contained.
A pre-emptive SoE in the Solomon Islands — which currently is COVID-free — was implemented through a signed whole of government order where police were responsible for overseeing quarantine, maintaining public order and ensuring compliance. The implementation of some actions, though, were considered heavy-handed, such as the shutting of informal and community food markets and restricting the movement of people.
In Samoa and Tonga, the police enforced lockdowns. Police were also responsible for much of the communication around the SoE in PNG, Solomon Islands and Samoa."
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Policing and pandemics, Nick Thomson, Asia & the Pacific Policy Society, 2020
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