9 Apr 2013

New Zealand police collaborate with Pacific colleagues to enhance capability

6:40 pm on 9 April 2013

The New Zealand police force is extending its aid assistance across much of the Pacific to help enhance policing capability in the region.

The four-year long Partnership for Pacific Policing Programme will involve the training and mentoring of officers in the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess, says the aim is to build operational capability and the flexibility to respond to emerging needs.

But he says it is not a one size fits all.

"And it isn't about us trying to tell people how to do their business. It is about us, in fact it has been about us in terms of developing this programme, collaborating with the police services in those countries, to indentify where their training needs might be, what we can do to best assist in particular jurisdiction."

Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess.

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