THE public has very little faith in the police, according to Taveuni resident David Reynolds.
In his submissions to the Constitution Commission he said the force needs to be properly resourced and should introduce psychometric tests before appointing people to determine suitability for the job.
Mr Reynolds said the minimum qualification must be Form Six or Seven for entry up to sergeant level and those with degrees to ranks above sergeant.
"They need to be proficient in two of the three languages and preferably all three," said Mr Reynolds.
"Community policing is a well tried principle but why not combine this with community justice as there is a lot of fairly minor crime, assaults, family problems, assaults and swearing which could be handled at a local level rather than by the police.
"The police would have to be informed of the details of offences, of course, but this would allow the police to get on with dealing with more important crimes and matters of security, border control etc."
Mr Reynolds said local informal courts could be set up with elected officers to deal with this.
"If community leaders were elected and not in position as a birthright, this would have been a ready-made system," said Mr Reynolds.
"Protection for the accused would be an appeal system whereby if there was no agreement or acceptance of the penalty, the Magistrates Court could step in and deal with the case.
"All proceedings of the courts should be clearly in English with translation as necessary with sound recording and amplification so that transcripts can be made and the public gallery can hear what is going on or else it becomes hidden justice."