14 Aug 2013

Bougainville further shuns PNG police in favour of NZ

12:51 pm on 14 August 2013

The President of Bougainville says he is happy with the New Zealand police trainers and he doesn't want police sent from other parts of Papua New Guinea.

John Momis says there is a cultural difference between Bougainville and the rest of PNG and he wants police in Bougainville to serve, rather than be mercenaries.

The New Zealand police have so far been training community police and Mr Momis says they have made great progress.

He also wants them to train the regular police service, and says training of police in Port Moresby is sub-standard.

"Well the training they get is not, they are not trained to ... remember the Bougainville police is called the Bougainville police service, not Bougainville police force. Police here [Port Moresby] are trained to bash heads and kill people and so on and so forth, not to serve."

The President of the autonomous province of Bougainville, John Momis