The Fiji Police Force wanted to increase its presence in the outer islands so the then Police Commissioner, John Orme, made a special statement requesting for the usage of government boats.
The Fiji Times reported on Monday, December 5, 1978, Mr Orme told a news conference before his return from a visit to the Southern Lau Islands of Matuku, Moala, Totoya, Vanuavatu and Nayau, that he was “determined to make the police service in Fiji seen as something more than a law enforcement agency”.
He said although the crime and disorder rates in the outer islands were “by nature of things very low”, the people in those islands were entitled to have at least occasional police presence.
“The population in those outer islands ranged from 500 to 1500, even so, people there have the right to have police presence at the least once a year,” Mr Orme said.
He said the police service had much to offer and could in most cases be able to offer a 24-hour service to those in need.
“They wanted a policeman to be someone of ever present help in time of trouble.”
Being able to achieve that kind of police presence would be a tremendous task, but the service had to look into ways and means of doing so.
He said it would be expensive to have policemen permanently based in the outer islands and the police could not afford the extravagance.
He said he would later speak to the Marine Department about the availability of government ships.
“I believe they visit the outer islands once a month, and if this is so, I see no reason why they should not have policemen on their passenger list.”
Mr Orme said he would gear up all his efforts towards “implementing the image” of the police force.
Replying to the criticism raised in Parliament by the deputy speaker, Harish Sharma, Mr Orme said he regretted that the deputy speaker had to be critical of some of his officers.
Mr Sharma told Parliament the police should have been taught about public relations since they often threw their weight around when dealing with public complains.
Mr Orme said he had “no time” for officers in the police service who displayed anything, but a courteous and helpful attitude towards members of the public.
In a reply to another criticism by the president of the Fiji Law Society, Davanesh Govind, on police officers who were preventing clients in custody from getting in touch with their lawyers, Mr Orme said he heard about the matter when he returned and was deeply concerned.
He said he considered the rights of any person in custody “very important” and that the complaints were “of serious concern to him”.
He said he hoped Mr Govind would be able to discuss personally with him any problems he had with police in this regard.
In replying to questions about the use of unmarked cars, Mr Orme said he saw no reason not to use unmarked cars in detecting traffic offenders along with plain clothed policemen to detect criminals.
He said he was concerned about the increasing number of traffic accidents, especially those involving young children and that “something had to be done about it”.
