The two-day Restore Blue Community Policing program ended with a consensus reached on the need to strengthen police and community engagements in order to effectively address the root causes of crime, social disorder and the fear of crime.

State of Community Policing Research Consultant Berenado Daveta said, “Police cannot fight crime alone. Some of the drivers of crime are not criminal​, they are there in the community and these are the contexts in which community policing will have to work and operate with.

The fear of crime is a reality and if you want to tackle crime, there is a need for the convergence of all stakeholders and the symposium is the best way to hear how we can address this together through smart partnerships”.

Thanking the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration and the UNDP for conducting the research and convening the two-day symposium on behalf of the Acting Commissioner of Police Juki Fong Chew was the Director of Community Policing Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Salanieta Radaniva, who said Police have taken all concerns raised about service delivery and conduct of officers and we will work on improving for the sake of restoring faith in policing.

UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji National Project Support Specialist Christopher Yee assured the delegates of their continued support and committed to holding similar consultative sessions with community leaders, crime prevention committee reps, members of the NGOs, CSOs and youth reps in other divisions.