Minister urges Police to be honest & uphold the law

By Lagi Keresoma

APIA, SAMOA – 19 JULY 2022: The Minister of Police, Faualo Harry Schuster was direct and urged the police to know and understand the law, and to be honest in executing their duties as law enforcers.

Faualo was speaking yesterday at the Ministry’s official welcome of the newly appointed Police Commissioner, Auapaau Logoitino Filipo.

The theme of his speech was “opportunity.”

“It is the dream of every police officer to reach the highest position within the Ministry, but the chances of getting there comes with trust, honesty and understanding of the law,” said Faualo, a lawyer by profession and a former District Court Judge.

Lack of understanding of the law
The Minister reminded the police officers of the oaths they took as police officers, and their roles in upholding the law and the Constitution without bias and fear.

“Your job is not easy especially in the protection of people’s rights, but if you understand and follow the law, you won’t have any problems,” said Faualo.

He then highlighted areas of concern that has reached his office such as the:

• Involvement of police officers in illegal drug activities,
• Lack of evidence to prosecute a case in Court which has resulted in many cases being dismissed,
• Abuse of senior positions to seduce young female police officers,

“I am not complaining but I would not be a good minister if I did not address these issues of concern,” he said.

He referenced his time as a Judge of the Court where he sentenced a police officer to prison on a sexual offence charge.

He said he followed with disappointment the current case of a former deputy police commissioner and former Member of Parliament who was implicated in and alleged sexual incident against a female police officer.

“It is sad and it is not right,” he said.

He said it should not happen because it affects any future decision towards the person involved.

He then asked the Ministry management to enforce the law on detection and prevention of crimes, protection of person’s rights and keep and maintain peace which are the focus of police work.

“O outou o Malu o le Malo, e malu ma sulu iai le atunuu. Ae faatoa le malu a le atunuu pe a tupu le mea lea o le le faamaoni ma le savali i le tulafono, le amanaia aia tatau a tagata. E tupu loa lea tulaga, ona ou faanoanoa lea aua ua le malu Samoa ia tatou,” saunoa ai Faualo.

Who wants his daughter as a police officer if this was the kind of behaviour from the people who hold senior positions within the Ministry, he asked.

Minister for Police Faualo Harry Schuster with Commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo & Superintendent Misa Iosefo.

It is easy to appoint a Commissioner from outside the Ministry
Faualo said it is easy for him as Minister to appoint a Commissioner from outside of the Ministry or set up a Commission of Inquiry to look into issues raised. However, he has reasons in appointing Auapaau as the new Commissioner and it goes back to the theme of his speech “opportunity.”

He said there was a reason why the previous Government appointed a Commissioner who never served locally to lead the Ministry in the past six years.

“I looked at the reasons and that is, there was no trust in the people within the Ministry so it was best to bring someone from outside to try and resolve the problems in the Ministry,” said Faualo.

Out of the 7 people who applied for the Commissioner’s job, 5 were from the Ministry and two from outside. Three of those are lawyers.

“At the end of the day, I wanted someone from within the Ministry who understands the ministry and I put my trust on Auapaau and urged Cabinet to accept my decision,” said Faualo.

Commissioner appointed on merits
In the past, the appointment of a Commissioner was done by the Ministry of Police Board on merits, and that was how the first Samoan police Commissioner Alphonso Philip was appointed. He was followed by Lavea Unasa Lio, Saunoamalii Sonny Schuster, Samau Timani and Galuvao Tanielu Galuvao.

The term of appointments then was until they resigned or retired.

The Commissioners after Galuvao were all appointed by Cabinet on 3 year contracts and it was Faualo who drafted the law on the then Government instructions that changed the process of appointing a Commissioners.

Then politics entered and Faualo realised that Government had control over the Commissioner.

“Gone are the days of selecting a Commissioner on merits and replaced by serving without asking questions,” said Faualo

Media asked to leave before Commissioner’s speech
It was the Minister who invited the media to cover the event. However, after his speech and before the Commissioner’s speech, the Deputy Commissioner, Papalii Monalisa Keti who was the MC, asked the media to leave.

Her reasons were that the event was an internal meeting between the Minister and the Ministry to welcome the new Commissioner.

Commissioner calls for service without political influence
However, outside the meeting room, the new Commissioner Auapaau is heard asking the Ministry for support and for them to work together as a team.

Then he urged the officers to put aside any political affiliations and to serve the interests of the people and Government of Samoa.

The Police Commissioners position had been vacant for almost a year when the last Commissioner resigned on personal reasons following last year’s political turmoil and an ultimate change of government.

Auapaau and two other senior officers had been rotating as Acting Commissioners until the appointment was made two weeks ago.