COMMISSIONER of Police Brigadier General Ioane Naivalurua told female police officers at the Vatuwaqa Community Post yesterday to familiarise themselves with the environment they work in as it was a key component to any successful operation.
Brig-Gen Naivalurua, who accompanied the Minister for Defence, Joketani Cokanasiga during his Southern Division tour, said women working in various community posts needed to step up.
He said police officers could not control the crimes being committed in a particular area if they did not familiarise themselves with the environment they were operating in. "We hope the number of women officers operating from the two women community posts will increase," he said.
"We hope to see it increase from nine officers to 12 or 14, so there is a lot of manpower operating in the field."
Brig-Gen Naivalurua said a great challenge for the female officers was the number of former inmates living in their area of work.
"They need to monitor the area consciously and see that hideous crimes are not being committed."
He said the Fiji Police Force was considering moving the Grantham Plaza community police post to Jittu Estate so they could monitor and protect the community better.