28 R.S.I.P.F OFFICERS RETIRED
The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) today farewells 28 police officers who have reached retirement age.
Police Commissioner Frank Prendergast revealed this at his weekly media conference today.
He says the officers are from the ranks of Constable to Chief Superintendent, most of whom have served more than 30 years in the force.
“This morning we said farewell to 28 police officers who are taking retirement. They were ranked from Constable through to Chief Superintendent, most of them have spent more than 30 years in the police force so it’s a significant day for them and for the organisation I just like to take the opportunity to wish them well for the future and thank them for the hard work and commitment that they’ve given to their country and the police force.”
SIBC News understands, the 28 officers have reached the official retirement age of 55 years.
Meanwhile, asked if the retirement would impact the force, the Police Commissioner acknowledged it will have an impact and such is part of policing in any country.
He says they are losing a lot of experienced police officers but hopes to bring in more new officers through the normal recruitment process this month, adding losing officers through retirement is always an issue to manage.
“We are losing a lot of police officers with a lot of experience. We’ve got two recruit courses starting in April so we’ll be recruiting or we’ll be having another 70 police officers commenced and I am hoping to do more recruitment towards the end of the year, but it’s always an issue for police to manage losing experience, you know, people get to the end of their carriers and we’re talking I think some of them were up around the 40 year mark, so it’s a lot of policing experience. So I won’t understate the significance of those people leaving but it is part of policing.”