Png's Top Cops Out In July

Nineteen of the 23 senior white officers remaining in the Papua New Guinea Police Force will leave their jobs by the end of July.

There will still be another 55 white officers in the force, but made up of contract men with less general experience or with specialised technical sk i Us The men who are pulling out include the Commissioner, Mr B. J.

Holloway, an Assistant Commissioner, Mr J. Graham, nine superintendents and eight inspectors. They are taking advantage of a golden handshake retirement arrangement financed by the Australian Government to smooth the changeover to local staffing in PNG.

The departure of 19 men in the space of a few months is caused by the retirement formula which favours mid-1975. An officer gains no further advantage if he stays any longer.

Although the PNG Government is committed to the speedy replacement of whites, the exodus from the top of the police force is expected to create huge staffing and administrative strains.

The departure involves the nucleus of men who have formed the main higher-level administrative strength of the force for several years.

The 19 men are all classified as permanent officers in the force The recruitment of whites as permanent career officers ended 12 years ago, and each of the 19 officers has served in PNG for an average of just over 20 years. , . „ . . .

The Commissioner, Mr Holloway, formerly from the South Australian Police, has served in PNG for 27 years.

If the government replaces the Commissioner with a PNG national from within the force —which is the present indication — the new Com missioner could be a man with less than 10 years service.

New Guineans did not qualify for officer status within the force until only 11 years ago, when the first cadet training scheme was established and some men were chosen from the ranks for officer training.

The total strength of the force, officers and men, is about 4,5 UV.