Praneeta Prakash 
[Source: Fiji Police Force/ Facebook]
The Fiji Police Force continues to push for the necessary resources to ensure effective law enforcement and public safety.
While the force’s planned expansion aims to have 7,209 officers, they currently operate with only 5,556, a significant shortfall that has been exacerbated by a hold on restructuring efforts.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Administration Meli Sateki says the Force is grappling with significant manpower challenges, as staffing shortages and retention issues continue to impact its operations.
“We are in the midway of our review and restructure implementations, we are really struggling in terms of our manning level. Visibility is always an issue that has brought to our attention more than often. Our response time to crime has now become an issue. So these are a few challenges that are coming because of our manning level.”
[Source: Fiji Police Force/ Facebook]
ACP Sateki says with some police posts manned by a single officer, the urgency for increasing manpower remains a top priority.
“We are still in the process of pushing to populate our 84 police posts while this R&R has been put on hold. So we are really pushing and pooling our resources to make sure that we are attentive to a different situation that is coming at the moment.”
He adds that the Ministry of Finance has allowed for increased recruitment of special constables to mitigate manpower shortages while broader restructuring remains on hold.
