High staff turnover has forced Samoa’s Ministry of Police to seek higher salaries for sworn officers.
Samoa Observer reports the issue is highlighted in the Ministry of Police Annual Report for the 2018-2019 financial year.
The request from the ministry has support from Cabinet who also support the procurement of operational safety equipment for all frontline members of the Samoa Police Service.
The report highlights the numerous challenges that lack of resources is causing the force.
These include a lack of access to capital; the absence of hardware such as handcuffs; and the inability of Police to beproperly equipped to respond to climate change and fast technology.
The Ministry also sought a faster turnaround for requests made by the police after highlighting the slow response of government processes as one of the challenges they faced during the financial Year.
Meanwhile the ministry recorded a 143 per cent increase in revenue collection for the same financial year.
Police Ministry revenue is mainly collected from services rendered to the public.
“A total of $472,035 amount of fees have been collected by the Ministry on the reporting financial year,” said the report.
“Compared to the 330,640 projections as highlighted above, [the] S.P.S. achieved its target by 143 [per cent], an equivalent of $141,395 over-collected.”
Photo: Samoa Police Service
