Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Women Police, 1977–96
| DOI | 10.1177/146135579800100309 |
| Date | 01 December 1998 |
| Published date | 01 December 1998 |
| Subject Matter | Applied Paper |
International Journal of Police Science &Management Volume 1 Number 3
Royal
Papua New Guinea Constabulary
Women Police, 1977-96
Joan Dangoume
Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary, Port Moresby
Accepted:
16th April, 1998
InternationalJournal of Police
Science and Management,
Vo!. 1
No.3,
1998,pp. 308-312.
©Henry
Stewart Publications,
1461-3557
Page 308
Joan Dangoume is aDetective Chief Inspec-
tor
in the Royal Papua New Guinea Con-
stabulary. She works in criminal investigations
in the Port Moresby Criminal Investigation
Department.
HISTORY
In
1888
Papua
New
Guinea
was
policed
by
two
different
and
separate forces -
the
Papuan
Police
Force
and
the
New
Guinea
Force.
By
1944
the
two
areas
combined
under
the
Australia
New
Guinea
Ad-
ministration
Unit
and
the
force was
named
the
Royal
Papua
and
New
Guinea
Constabulary. In
1972,
the
constabulary
was
renamed
the
Royal
Papua
New
Guinea
Constabulary
and
has
continued
to use
that
name.
In
1977,
89 years later,
women
were
inducted
into
the
Royal
Papua
New
Guinea
Constabulary.
The
first 12
women
were
recruited
to
train
alongside
their
male
counterparts
and,
since
that
time,
women
have
been
steadily
recruited.
The
Constabulary
now
has 211
women
police
throughout
Papua
New
Guinea
(PNG)
which
is
approximately
5
per
cent
of
the
total
strength
of
4,955.
ROLES AND FUNCTIONS
For
some
time
the
roles
and
functions
of
women
police
were
not
clearly
defined.
Some
performed
as
equal
partners
with
their
male
counterparts,
while
others
carried
out
clerical
or
office-based duties
or
those
exclusively
relating
to
women
and
children.
After
a
while,
this
caused
concern
as
women
were
not
being
employed
in
the
same
areas as
men.
In
1991,
a
policy
of
full
integration
of
men
and
women
was
approved
by
the
Police
Commissioner,
then
Ila
Geno.
A
new
revised
policy
and
conditions
of
service
for
women
police
was issued.
This
policy
directed
that
women
police
should
be
fully
integrated
into
the
force
(with
the
exception
of
mobile
and
riot
duties),
with
the
same
career
opportunities
as
male
members
in
terms
of
training
courses,
accommodation,
deployment,
promotion,
uniforms,
leave
entitlements,
discipline,
cultural
problems
and
strength.
TRAINING
A
survey
of
women
police
conducted
in
June
1993
showed
that
those
recruited
up
to
about
1986
have
had
access to a
variety
of
training
courses in
addition
to
recruit
training
and
have
enjoyed
diverse
deploy-
ment.
However,
most
members
recruited
since
1986
have
had
no
training
apart
from
recruit
training,
and
deployment
has
been
limited
mainly
to general duties
such
as
receiving
complaints
at
police
station
counters,
staffing
telephone
switchboards,
operating
police
radios,
and
dealing
with
women
and
juveniles.
ACCOMMODATION
The
lack
of
housing
before
1993
has
been
one
limiting
factor
in
achieving
more
training
and
effective
deployment
of
women
police
throughout
the
country.
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