Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

NZ considers training community police in Indonesia’s Papua region

Posted at 03:57 on 21 February, 2008 UTC

New Zealand police are considering the possibility of cooperating with the Indonesian police in Papua in carrying out a programme to train community police.

The Papua Police’s Senior Commander Agus Riyanto says New Zealand police’s manager for international strategy and policy, Jaquelyn Goodwin, was visiting police stations in Papua.

He says she was accompanied by an Indonesian police team.

He says at a meeting with the Papua Police Chief Inspector she advised that she would return to Papua with a community police training programme.

New Zealand has been assisting policing efforts in the region, including in Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville province which had been the scene of a separatist war.