By Martha Taumata Faavae
Police Minister Tialavea John Hunt, set up the new intake of cadet officers who graduated last week with a ‘straight talk’ on the hard path of duty that lies ahead in law enforcement.
Tialavea pounded the value of common sense into the 44 new graduates last Thursday to take seriously in their line of duty.
“Most of the issues that embarrassed the reputation of the force is from not carrying out the work properly by giving it better understanding of the issues involved,” the Minister addressed.
“People who called into the Prime Minister’s office or my office to seek help are from issues that could easily be resolved through better decision making based on simple commonsense.”
Tialavea admitted that police officers duties are challenging with lives at risks, but they should always try and keep everything under control.
Situations have to be handled firmly and fairly so that it will flow well into making better decisions in the end.
The Minister advised strongly to be very mindful of how easy access to technology by the public, like video recording, can lead to added problems for the work.
Actions by the police are recorded and uploaded on social media for maximum public exposure that can cast a poor image on law enforcement work.
“ If you are responsible for giving police a bad image then you have wasted 17 weeks of training you went through.
“Don’t be afraid of being criticised for making a good decision, do the right thing regardless of whomever is involved even if it’s the Prime Minister.”
The Minister’s hard-hitting advise settled in well with 29 year old female cadet officer Fu’a Elekana, who topped the class of 2020.
The young officer from Poutasi, Falealili, admitted to taking a while to have any interest in a police career.
He initial doubts were at whether she had any natural skills for the job.
Elekana is a graduate of the National University of Samoa who stayed home for 5 years and placed her career choice on her religious faith.
“I always watch our lady deputy Commissioner of Police when she comes on television to encourage us women to join the force.
“I applied for the job and soon felt that I was suited for it when I found a quick interest in the law especially through police work.”
But the 17 weeks of training was a difficult challenge for her having to make the long trip from home everyday and to be on time for class at 9.00am.
The oldest member of the class, is 45 year old former traffic officer with the Lands and Transport Authority, Fativaotele Faaleofi.
He decided to make the transfer from LTA to the traffic division of the Ministry of Police even knowing that he will have to pass formal training first.
“ I wanted to join the Police Traffic Division and I didn’t mind having to attend this training course in order to qualify,” Faaleofi said.
He soon learned that police work involves more in-depth knowledge of the law, compared to where he started off with the LTA.
A large turnout of families tried to sit in during the formalities but were prevented under social distancing rules of the lockdown until afterwards.
“All our graduates will now be assigned to the policing of the lockdown orders,” Police Commissioner Fuiavailili Egon Keil confirmed.
One of the standout features in the graduating class of 44 is that 26 of the graduates were women.
It is the first time the women have outnumbered the men in a graduating class.