The survey covered topics such as training, opportunities for promotion, job satisfaction, and health. The results will be used by the PICP Women’s Advisory Network to continue to improve gender equity in Pacific policing.

Delegates will be invited from the women’s networks from 20 Pacific countries’ national police services.

Delegates will be invited from the twenty PICP member countries, with observers from a number of other Pacific regional organisations.

‘Cyber Safety Pasifika’ aims to equip police in the various Pacific Island Countries with the knowledge and resources to educate their communities, including young people, teachers and parents, in all aspects of cyber safety. The program draws on Australia’s ‘ThinkUKnow’ program and New Zealand’s ‘NetSafe’ program, which help young people to safely navigate the internet.

It has been recognised by the PICP that as cyber use in the Pacific increases, there is a growing importance for cyber safety education for communities in the Pacific.

Representatives from the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and the Federated States of Micronesia will attend today’s event. These five nations will pilot the new program, which may eventually roll out to include the entire Pacific region.

Research indicates that Internet usage varies vastly across different Pacific Island countries, from an estimated 2 per cent in Kiribati to 84 per cent in Niue. With this in mind, the course will be tailored to meet the very different needs of each country involved, bridging the gap between cyber use, awareness and education.

AFP Manager Cyber Crime Operations Commander Grant Edwards said while the growth of Internet use across Pacific Island communities presented a number of opportunities, Internet users needed to be informed of how they can still enjoy the benefits and minimise risks online.

“This course is an integral part of building the capacity of Pacific Island law enforcement to deliver cyber safety messages to their communities,” Commander Edwards said.

“The AFP is dedicated to preventing Internet users from becoming victims of crime no matter where they are located.”
The AFP also works collaboratively with a number of organisations, including the NRL, to provide the community with valuable information and advice about cyber safety and security.

The NRL, represented by NRL Education and Welfare Manager Nigel Vagana and the Gold Coast Titans, will officially open the course.

“Through our Education and Welfare programs, the NRL has worked with the AFP across all the NRL clubs and we have seen how valuable these programs have been with our players and staff,” Vagana said.

“The players wanted to share their knowledge to help educate their communities. This new Pacific program is exactly what the players have been looking for and there was no hesitation in working again with a familiar partner in the AFP.

“With some of our high profile Pacific players already involved in the pilot, this new Cyber Safety program will continue to support the work done already and help promote positive and safe messages, not only throughout the Pacific, but the wider community.”

Australian-based NRL players have worked with the AFP since 2009 in areas of social media and reputation management, and will continue to work as ambassadors for cyber safety.

Internet use is growing in the Cook Islands, particularly amongst young people. With this growth comes an increasing vulnerability to cyber bullying. Cyber Safety Pasifika has been designed to help provide young people, their parents and police with the knowledge and tools to protect them from this threat.

Through the programme, around 750 children (from 10-17 years old) in eight schools in Rarotonga took part in interactive workshops on how to stay safe online and be responsible ‘digital citizens’. Evening sessions were held for communities, including parents, carers and church leaders.

Local police officers also took part, with sessions on understanding the activities young people take part in online and the websites and social networks they visit.

Early next year Cook Islands police officers will also participate in a ‘train the trainer’ course that will allow them to deliver awareness campaigns to young people in schools and the community.

Regional chiefs of police identified cyber safety in the Pacific as a major emerging issue at the annual PICP conference held in Brisbane in 2010, and again at the 2011 conference in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. The new programme was successfully piloted in Niue in August 2011.

Senior Sergeant Pauao (Cook Islands Police), Ms Mel Sevil (AFP), Federal Agent Melissa Northam (PICP Secretariat), Inspector John Strickland (Cook Islands Police)

Commissioner Tetava said that he is excited about launching the programme in the Cook Islands. He says while the internet offers fantastic education opportunities, entertainment and communication to everyone especially children and youth not all opportunity is good or in the receivers best interest.

“It is unfortunate that there are some criminal minds out there that will take advantage of our children, young people and the more vulnerable members of our community. The rapid expansion of the internet also offers opportunity for a wide variety of crime particularly sex crime and fraud,”  Commissioner Tetava said.

The programme has also been endorsed by NRL (National Rugby League) players and clubs as an important component of its education programmes particularly rugby league identities from the Pacific region.

The project has been funded by the Australian Federal Police’s Pacific Police Development Program. It will be rolled out to other Pacific Island countries from 2012.

This issue covers the 2011 PICP conference, police armouries, the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and the latest from the PICP Women’s Advisory Network.

Visit the PICP Beat page to see previous issues.

At the opening ceremony Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin of the Australian Federal Police handed the PICP Chair to Chief of FSM National Police Mr Takasy Reim.

Mr Reim noted that the 40th anniversary of the PICP was a history making event for the FSM as this was to be the first time the nation held the position of chair and the first time the conference had been held in FSM.

Mr. Colvin said he was exceptionally pleased with the developments over the past year.

“We have met our goals in the past year and I am delighted that the Federated States of Micronesia has accepted the challenge of Chair of the PICP. I know that under the chairmanship of Chief Takasy Reim, we will continue to achieve our goals in Law Enforcement to build safer communities in the Pacific region.

“We are committed to working together and providing support to projects that we see as priorities in the Region” Mr. Colvin said.

During the conference the Chiefs of Police discussed range of issues impacting on Law Enforcement and Security within the Pacific Region. Their discussions focused on better coordinated and more targeted use of donor resources, identifying gaps in services and providing transparency, urban drift and a range of projects already underway in the Region.

One such area of discussion will focus on Police Training and Education under Pacific Police Training Advisory Group. The intention in establishing the forum is to support and oversee the building of sustainable training capacities within individual Pacific Police organisations.

New projects such as Cyber Safety Pasifika were also discussed. The Cyber Safety program will be delivered Pacific wide and will aim at protecting communities, children, youth and other vulnerable people from the vulnerabilities and impact of cyber-crime.

In his welcoming address to the conference Chief Reim told the delegates that he was very honoured to take the chairmanship for the next year. He said there was a real need to continue developing the information sharing arrangements throughout the region to stay at the cutting edge of crime trends.

“The movement of people across our borders is increasing daily. For us as PICP law enforcement leaders this poses an increasing challenge. We need to continuously improve our information sharing across our borders. This, I believe, will be of increasing importance to us in the future. We already have the tools to do this through the Pacific Transnational Crime Network (PTCN).

“During my term, I will focus my efforts on your behalf to work closely with the PTCN. We need to build on already developed systems to ensure our information gathering and sharing develops” Chief Reim said.

The conference concluded on Thursday 25 August 2011. The 2012 conference is scheduled to be held in Solomon Islands.