By Martha Taumata-Faavae
Late assistant Commissioners Leiataua Fata Aviga Salale and Pagamalie Penani Lemuelu, were at the top of the list of police officers commemorated today at the Ministry of Police Remembrance Day service.
The annual event was held this morning at the National University of Samoa Le Papaigalagala Campus Gymnasium, to remember the services of police officers who passed away from September 2020- September 2021.
The assistance Commissioners made up eight (8) of the officers who died during the period while in the service.
Police in their formal whites honoured the memory of their late colleagues with a minute of silence in a ceremony attended by family members of the late officers.
Family members were presented certificates of recognition for service by their loved ones in a presentation ceremony that also included the lighting of candles.
Former police officer Setu Alapati of Saleaumua and Auala, Savaii, was among the family members at the service.
He clutched on tightly to a photo and a certificate of recognition he was presented with of his beloved wife, Corporal Delta Galugalu Tavita, who died in a traffic accident,
Alapati joined the service in 2007 before his wife was recruited in 2008. A new Ministry of Police policy that would not allow for couples to work together forced him to look for another job outside the service.
“It’s a mixed feeling of gratitude to the Ministry of Police for this special occasion to remember my wife but at the same time it reawakens the memories of our time together,” Alapati felt.
Sina Palemene Amosa shared the same sense of loss at the passing of her husband Palemene Amosa who was a Principal Correctional officer.
“He passed away last November at 47 years old in a traffic accident leaving behind myself and our 5-children in the family,” Amosa grieved her loss.
“He was the income earner for us and it is not easy with him gone but we have faith in God.”
The couple raised their family at Fasito’outa and Faleasi’u.
The Ministry will hold a sports day on Saturday at the Marist sports ground at Lotopa for all the officers and their families as part of the Remembrance Day commemorations.