THE Fiji Police Force will receive a major boost in capability and manpower, following a $13.5million funding increase to $240.3m in the 2025–2026 National Budget.
The funding will allow for the recruitment of 1000 new officers, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Professor Biman Prasad described the allocation as a “major investment” to improve police visibility nationwide.
He said this would take the full strength of the Police Force to more than 6550 officers across all ranks.
“This is one officer to 137 people, meaning 730 officers per 100,000 population,” Prof Prasad said.
“The standard acceptable number is around 300 per 100,000 population. We are more than double.”
The expansion will be implemented in two phases, costing around $40m.
For the first phase, $19.5m has been allocated in the new budget to recruit 538 new officers, in addition to filling around 300 existing vacancies.
“This would mean an extra manpower of over 800 officers immediately.”
The Finance Minister also confirmed that Government had earlier approved an additional $8.6m this month to support salary progression within the force.
Prof Prasad said these were part of ongoing efforts to retain and motivate police officers.
