Current Issues

Role, Criminal Investigations, Liaison, Training,

and Peace Keeping

Role

The role of PICP includes the following:

• Providing a voice on law enforcement issues and raising awareness of such issues
• Identifying trends in transnational and other crime and developing strategies to combat these
• Contributing to training initiatives to develop capability in the region
• Promoting information sharing and intelligence to counter organised crime
• Providing a forum to share “best practice” across jurisdictions
• Interacting and cooperating with agencies and organisations which share common interests

Criminal Investigations

The need for international police services to communicate and share information is vital with the increase in international travel, advances in technology, and the spread of transnational organised crime.

With these changes, PICP has become a key figure in law enforcement in the Pacific region.

Police services in the Pacific are committed to reducing all types of major crime including those relating to terrorism, murder and other forms of attack on the person, illicit drugs, money laundering, fraud, paedophilia and other serious sex offences, and people smuggling.

To achieve this objective, Police in the region are engaged in initiating, developing and promoting an extensive range of strategies to prevent, combat and eliminate crime.

Liaison

PICP liaises and interacts with other agencies in the Pacific region and elsewhere with an interest in law enforcement. These include Interpol, United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Drug Enforcement Administration, Pacific Islands’ Forum Secretariat, Oceania Customs Organisation, Pacific Immigration Directors’ Conference and Pacific Islands Law Officers’ Meeting.

Representatives from these agencies regularly attend annual conferences of PICP as observers and cooperate in other ways.

The Australian Federal Police maintains a network of Liaison Officers in the region who operate under the general control of the Regional Coordinator Pacific Islands who is based at police headquarters in Canberra.

Training

PICP is involved in some training initiatives, either in its own right or in partnership with other agencies. Most of this is through in-country courses conducted by Police officers from Australia and New Zealand Police. Topics covered include policy training and human rights, HIV research.

Peace Keeping

For many years Police services from Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand have provided officers for peace keeping duties in all parts of the world. During recent times, these duties have included countries in the Pacific such as East Timor and Solomon Islands.