Tongan Police Chief Superintendent Tevita Vailea was in Wellington earlier this month to attend the Pacific Island Crime Prevention Workshop.
The workshop was hosted by New Zealand Police and supported by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Australian Federal Police.
The focus of the workshop was on crime prevention methods, crime science, problem oriented policing, family harm and mental health.
Tonga Police (District One, Nuku’alofa) have started operating this model of policing with the support of the New Zealand and Australian funded Tonga Police Development Programme.
Changes have also been implemented to rosters, intelligence gathering, deployment and tasking.
Chief Superintendent Vailea said the police staff have welcomed the changes and significant reductions in crimes have been noted.
“We are only at the start of our prevention journey, but it has been very encouraging to see how our police staff have embraced the changes,” he said.
“We have seen significant reductions in reported crime and road crash related deaths, but we think we can obtain even better results and safer communities as a result,” added Vailea.
Photo supplied by NZ High Commission, Tonga Facebook
