THE Fiji Police Force has called for more effort from its officers after failing to meet key performance indicator (KPI) targets in the last quarter.
Speaking at the quarterly commissioner's Parade last Friday, Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Ioane Naivalurua said the force only managed to meet two out of its eight KPI targets.
"The fact is that we have not done well and there is a need to improve," he said.
Brig-Gen Naivalurua revealed that the force had recorded a 27 per cent increase in the overall offence rate despite setting itself a target of reducing this by 10 per cent.
The force also set a target of reducing serious offences by 10 per cent. However an increase of 11 per cent was recorded in the third quarter.
"We targeted a reduction of crimes against women by 10 per cent. It increased by 10 per cent," Brig-Gen Naivalurua said.
He said there was a need for the force to co-ordinate with stakeholders in government and non government organisations as well in order to reduce the number of crimes against women.
However, there was some good news for the force with the men and women in blue managing to reduce their disciplinary offences by 34 per cent, almost double the target of 17.5 per cent set for the quarter. And while the force did not meet its targets in crime detection and reducing crimes against children, there were still notable reductions in the two areas.
The force had aimed to reduce crimes against children by 10 per cent but recorded an eight per cent decrease.
It was also able to achieve a crime detection rate of 46 per cent compared to the 60 per cent target.
The force also received acclaim from the police commissioner for exercising prudence with its funds and he called on the officers not to be disheartened with their performances.