By Loretta B Manele
The police Reassurance Operation is in motion as they continue to carry out their work amid the recent alleged kidnapping and abduction scare that caused public panic last month.
Police Commissioner Mostyn Mangau in a police press conference held yesterday told the media that their “reassurance operation” is currently being undertaken in areas like Honiara, the headquarters and Guadalcanal province.
He expressed that they have put a lot of resources and focus into this operation to reinstall confidence to our people in the capital.
Mangau said from this operation, six cases were under active investigation by their team during the reassurance operation.
He stated that three of these six cases were charged while the others are still being investigated.
Mangau mentioned that of these three cases, only one individual was remanded and the other two were released on bail to appear in court today.
He calls on the public to come forward to the police authorities to make reports if they hear anything that should be reported rather than jumping on social media to post about it which causes anxiety to our community.
“I encourage people to not use media to share information that is not true. Media is a good thing and it must be used the right way and not used to cause problems in our own communities.”
Mangau emphasised that crimes should be reported to the proper channel and that is the police.
He added that as part of the police reassurance operation, they are also engaging with communities to talk about how to deal with the issue that came about from social media.
Mangau stressed that as communities, we should work together and we cannot allow people to do things like spreading false information on social media to spark fear in our people.
“Schools were affected and services in the country were affected. Because of this people were not going to work.
“When we are spreading stories like this that cause fear in the public it slows down progress in our country.”
