Open letter (Report about Policeviolence)

Open letter to the Law and Justice sector of the Goverment of Papua New Guinea
Dear Mr. Sami Rambi and Mr. Gari Baki
 
I haven been travelling in Papua New Guinea for two months. In this time I have met the most amazing people in my life. Their hospitality, helpfulness and culture left me deeply impressed.
But security is a real issue in Papua New Guinea and I know: The situation is not easy for anyone. 
I have to report that I have experienced more danger coming from the official police corps then from the criminals themselves. When I first arrived in Papua New Guinea I was warned to be carefull about the policemen because of their abusive behaviour. 
My own experiences proved these warnings are true. I was shocked by the unprofessionalism of the police in Papua New Guinea. 
The following examples are the ones I have personally observed:
 
- On the way between Bogia - Madang (morning of 2nd August 2011) and Lae - Bulolo (afternoon of 8th August 2011) I've seen policemen beating up innocent people during a car control. The violence against passengers only stopped when the driver paid observable bribe money. It was not possible to take pictures of this situation.
 
- In Goroka I was in a shop when I heard a shot coming from the next store. When I went outside I was told that the police just executed an unarmed criminal who was trying to rob a store an hour ago. Because of the tumults after this happening it was not possible to confirm this.
 
- In a festival of the Don Bosco Technical School of Port Moresby, I've seen a group of policemen beating up a student in front of hundreds of visitors at the festival. This included kicking his back, image on the extreme left, punches to his body and standing on his legs. You can see from the pictures how some of the policemen are casually standing around and laughing as if it was all a joke. I was told by a women at the festival, that she knows the boy and that he is innocent. 
After having taken these pictures, my camera was confiscated by the men on the left of the picture. I had the opportunity to interview him a few minutes later: 

Policemen (P): ''What do you want?''
Me (M): ''I just asked why you beat the student.''
P: ''You don't have to ask anything, we organize the security here.''
M: ''Well, I just see a boy being beaten up by the police and of course I'm curious why they're doing this.''
P: ''We are here in PNG and we do it the way we want it. If the people don't have respect of us, they do what they want.''
M: ''So you are beating up people to get their respect?''
P: ''Exactly, I give you back your camera, because the pictures have been deleted.'' (The pictures were captured on another chip at that time.)
P: ''You don't have to ask any questions here, you just have to enjoy the festival.''
M: ''So you actually can do whatever you want?''
P: ''Yes, we are here in our place and we do it this way. There are just too many people here who are too curious.''
M: ''Well you are beating up a student in front of his whole school and his parents, of course they look at you.''
P: ''Hmm, thats enough now. Go back now to the festival and enjoy!''
M: ''Thank you, goodbye.''
 

In all these cases, the victims and witnesses did not report, defend or accuse anyone. They just passively accepted it and let it happen. The result is a big distrust into the security force. They don't show presence, if they do its unprofessional. It seems to be safer if there is no police at all. Another result is the big problem of bribery without justice. Thereby, often PNG appears in the top ten of the most unsafe countries of the world. I think this is directly related to the observations I've made. 
 
I have to admit, I am only a visitor from another country. It is not my ambition to change the countries I have travelled to, but to learn from them. But I'm convinced that it is the right decision to report things I've seen. The population cannot do it, because of the ''Wantok'' and the corruption in the security system. Any reports or complaints by victims or witnesses will be futile and on the contrary, dangerous to their whole family. I sincerely hope that you will be able to do something to improve this deplorable situation. I'm convinced too that it is fair to let the school know about students being beaten by their security personnels. I sincerely hope that you will be able to do something to improve this deplorable situation. I look forward to hearing from you and should you need more informations, please do not hesitate to contact me at www.cymytrip.ch.vu or openlettertothepoliceofpng@gmail.com. Your respond well be published in this blog.

Yours sincerely,
Cyrill Burch