1. Police Brutality in Papua New
Guinea
By Percy Petelo & Robert Mor

2. Contents
• Introduction
• Brief definition of Police Brutality
• Types of Police Brutality in PNG
• Causes of Police Brutality
• Effect of Police Brutality in the societies of PNG
• Measures in addressing Police Brutality
• Conclusion
• Reference

3. Introduction
Papua New Guinea faces violence at every turn,
including from the police, who should be
protecting them. We don’t need to investigate
or look far to confirm brutal and cruel actions
done by police officers in our country. The cruel
treatment done by police personals are
occurring frequently in our country, even if
reported to higher authorities, there seem to be
no follow up investigations and the case seem to
vanish after few days.

4. Brief Definition of Police Brutality
• Defined as unmerited, excessive and
aggressive abuse, police brutality is a
phenomenon that causes irreparable harm to
its victims.
• Brutal assaults meaning offences such as
harmful treatment to a person which as an
effect on the persons body and emotional
feelings.

5. Types of Police Brutality in PNG
• There are reported cases of a large handful of them
engaged in white collar crime and hide under the
pretext of police. Even more are the cases where some
of them follow politicians for favour and this was very
obvious during the 2012 National Elections.
• Excessive Force – excessive force is probably the most
well-known form of police misconduct. Excessive force
occurs when and officer uses more force than is
necessary to apprehend a suspect.
• False Imprisonment – false imprisonment occurs when
an officer retrains the free movement of the victim
without probable cause

6. Causes of Police Brutality in PNG
• There are two major causes of police brutality
 The jurisdiction where the police officers
serve. In some areas, acts of violence are
committed against against law enforcement
on a regular basis.
 Another cause of police brutality can simply
be an abuse of powers –these are more
extreme cases and again should be subject to
review by department heads.

7. Effect of Police Brutality in the
societies of PNG
• Death
The use of excessive physical force often characterizes police brutality and it
sometimes result in the death of its victims.
• Psychological Effects
Victims of police brutality may suffer from psychological effects and disorders
• Court Cases
Victims of police brutality may pursue court cases against the city employing
their abusers.
• Racial Profiling
at times, an entire culture or race may feel victimized by police brutally.
• Media attention
As some police-brutality cases higher profile than others are, the victims’
private lives may have sudden exposure to media attention.

8. Measures in addressing Police
Brutality
• There are two ways or approaches to minimise or
reduce police brutality in PNG
1. Professional Approach
One strategy to reduce police brutality is to
emphasize professionalism in the police force.
2. Bureaucratic Approach
Critics of the professionalism strategy contend that
it ignores elements of organizational culture within
a police department that may foster attitudes that
tolerate excessive force by officers

9. Conclusion
• Police brutality was viewed as a serious
problem which eroding the dignity of it’s
citizens as a human being.
• The excessive use of force by police personnel
on the citizens are not just disturbing but a
huge problem that is requesting drastic
measures in addressing it.

10. Referencing
• Retrieved on 03/05/2015 from BusinessDictionary.com
http://www.pngfacts.com/1/post/2012/08/police-brutality-
review-police-force-in-png.html#ixzz3Z0n6xzIH
• Retrieved on 03/05/2015 from ONE Papua New Guinea
http://www.onepng.com/2013/07/police-brutality-is-big-
problem-in.html
• Retrieved on 03/05/2015 from NoBullying.com
http://nobullying.com/police-brutality/
• Retrieved on 03/05/2015 from causes site
http://www.causesof.org/causes-of-police-brutality.php