Educational Research and Review Vol. 2 (1), pp. 009-013 January 2007 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR ISSN 1990-3839 © 2007 Academic Journals

Review

Social work education and police in Papua New Guinea Betty Lovai School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea. E-mail: [email protected]. Accepted 8 December 2006

The contribution of social work education to the professional capacity development of police officers commenced in 1974 when the Diploma in Police Studies was introduced at the University of Papua New Guinea under the Social Work Programme. In 2001, a study was conducted to assess the impact of social work education on police officers. The study focused only on those police officers that were still employed by the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary. The information was collected through interview surveys using a structured questionnaire. This paper presents and discusses the respondents’ perception of how social work education is valued by the Department of Police. Key words: Commissioner, commissioned and non commissioned officers, demotion, graduates, Police Act 1998, Police officers, Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary INTRODUCTION The objective of this paper is to highlight the value of social work education on police in Papua New Guinea. In 2001 a study was conducted to establish the significance of social work education on police officers. Of the total number of the graduates in 2001, 62 per cent participated in the study. Forty four per cent were commissioned officers, while 56 per cent were non commissioned officeers. Only male police officers participated in the study and the only policewoman who did the course had resigned. It is a unique initiative taken by the Social Work Programme at the University of Papua New Guinea since 1974 (O’Collins, 1993) to be responsible for police education in Papua New Guinea. The police education program was introduced as Diploma in Police Studies, but the title changed to Diploma in Social Administration and in 1999 elevated to degree status (Lovai, 2003). Muffet (1973) stated that: “the main thrust for tertiary education stemmed from the desire of the Police Department for its members to have a balanced awareness of the milieu in which they live and work and a more professional understanding of the processes of government, law and society” (Lovai, 2003).

Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].

The course was initially designed for commissioned officers and later extended to non commissioned officers. The respondents were asked to indicate whether the Department of Police value social work qualification. The objective of the question was to allow the respondents to state the importance of the qualification to police work. The paper presents the analysis of the responses to the question. First part of the paper outlines the assessment of the effect of social work education on the Police Department. In the second part of the paper, the author discusses the effect of social work education on police. Assessment of the effect of social work qualification on Police There was three per cent difference between those that claimed that the Department of Police values the qualification and those that disagreed. Fifty-one per cent of the respondents claimed that the Department values the qualification while, 49 per cent disagreed. The respondents identified a number of reasons to support the claim that the qualification has effect on the Police Department and therefore, it is valued. First, the qualification is considered as one of the selection criteria for cadet officer training course. The course is offered by the Department of the Police aimed at grooming police officers for commissioned officer rank. Forty one per cent of the respondents had attended the

Muffet (

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course. Second, the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary continues to encourage police officers to do the course and it is committed to supporting it. Lovai (2003) reported that over the 25 years of the police education at the University of Papua and New Guinea, only in four years there were no officers sent to undertake the course. Third, it was claimed that the contributions of those that did the course were recognized in both operational and adminis-trative duties. Out of the 63 police officers that were recipients of the qualification at the time of the study, 56 per cent were commissioned officers (Lovai, 2003). Fourth, the qualification is valuable to the Constabulary in terms of management skills. At the time of the study, 19 per cent of the recipients were in the senior management positions ranging from Provincial Police Commander to Commissioner of Police (Lovai, 2003). Furthermore, Lovai (2003) reported that four of the past Commissioners of Police had attended the course. Fifth, the Department of Police values the qualification in terms of up-grading the educational level of the workforce. Lovai (2003) noted that for 0.8 per cent of police officers out of the total of 5,336 uniform personnel in 2002, the Diploma was the highest qualification. Moreover, the Diploma was prerequisite for 0.33 per cent of the recipients of the qualification who pursued to de-gree courses (Lovai, 2003). The recipients of the qualification may be relatively small but significant because it has been the only tertiary police education course available and purposely designed for police personnel in the country. Effect of the qualification as perceived by the respondents The respondents were asked to state how the qualification has contributed to their careers. In response, the issues of promotion and effect on career were highlighted. Promotion Some respondents were motivated to do the course because they recognized the connection between higher educational qualification and promotion. Promotion was the main motivating factor for doing the course. Fifteen per cent of the respondents stated that the qualification contributed to their promotions. Twenty eight per cent of the respondents were motivated to do the course because the qualification is viewed as a means to promotion. These respondents recognize the relationship between promotions to commissioned officer rank and educational qualification and desired to advance to senior ranks when they applied to do the course. After the com-

pletion of the course, 49% of the respondents had expected to be promoted as a reward in recog-nition for their achievements. Analysis of promotion details revealed that at the time of enrolment and completion of the course 21 per cent of the respondents were commissioned officers and 79 per cent non commissioned officers. At the time of the study, 44 per cent were commissioned officers and 56 per cent were non commissioned officers. Of the 79 per cent of the non commissioned officers at the completion of the course, ten were promoted to commissioned officer ranks, nine were promoted to higher non- commissioned ranks, eleven did not receive promotion and one was demoted. In comparison, of the 21 per cent commissioned officers, five were promoted and one was demoted. Two of the respondents did not receive promotion since obtaining the qualification. One of these respondents advanced to degree programme. A closer examination of promotion details revealed that there was no direct link between the qualification and promotion. However, the respondents perceived the qualification has effect on promotion. Sixty nine per cent of the respondents claimed that the qualification has bearing on promotion, while 31 per cent disagreed. Of the 69 per cent that claimed the qualification has effect on promotion, 10 per cent claimed that it has some bearing, 13 per cent said that the qualification is somewhat important in promotion, 26 per cent declared that it is an important consideration in promotion, and 21 per cent acknowledged that the qualification is crucial in promotion. The respondents were certain that the qualification had effect on promotion but examination of promotion details clearly indicated there was no direct link. Concerns with effect of the qualification on career The respondents pointed out a number of concerns that suggested that the qualification had no effect on their careers. Fifty two per cent of the respondents highlighted the problem of under-utilization by the Department of Police. Forty nine per cent of the respondents declared that the Department does not value the qualification. Thirty six per cent of the respondents identified problems with the application of the qualification. Thirty one per cent of the respondents categorically stated that the qualification had no bearing on promotion. Fifteen per cent of the respondents highlighted negative experiences. These concerns highlighted the problem of failure by the Police Department to value the qualification and lack of promotion. Failure by the Police Department to value the qualification Forty nine per cent of the respondents claimed that the

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Department of Police does not value the qualification. One respondent stated the advancement and innovations meant nothing to the management. Another respondent stated that diploma holders pose threat to the supervisors who have lower qualifications. As a result the bosses suppress the Diploma holders to maintain their positions. Twenty one per cent of the respondents stated that the Diploma holders were not utilized adequately. When the officers returned from studies they were not assigned duties appropriate to the training. Thirteen per cent of the respondents stated that the department failed to recognize their achievements. One of the respondents said: ‘generally the Diploma has not contributed to my career. I say this because the department from my point of view does not recognize the Diploma’ although it encouraged police officers to do the course. Eight per cent of the respondents stated that there was no deployment plan and career path. One of them said, ‘since the Police Department has not established a scheme for social administration graduates, to attach to special units to perform duties related to studies, I feel nothing has contributed to my career’. One respondent stated that he was unable to make use of the knowledge in his duties as a detective and commented that the course is not applicable to investigative police work. Lack of promotion Additional to promotion concerns stated earlier, 69 per cent of the respondents did consider leaving police during their careers due to reasons related to promotion. Twenty three per cent stated lack of promotion the popular among other reasons for contemplating resignation. One of the respondents had a demotion rather than promotion and he had not been promoted in six years. There was a respondent who wanted to leave in the early days of his career when he had no promotion. Another one considered leaving when he was not promoted to first constable rank. Fifteen per cent had no promotion since obtaining the qualification. Of these one had no promotion in 13 years and the other was still waiting for promotion after nine years. Two respondents had no promotions in seven years, one had no promotion in six years and one had no promotion in a year. Discussion on the effect of social work education on police The respondents provided ambivalent comments about the value of the qualification in their duties and how it has helped the department and the positive comments were overwhelming than negative points. However, the nega tive comments raise serious questions for the Royal Pap-

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ua New Guinea Constabulary. The majority of the respondents were very positive about the value of the qualification. Overwhelmingly, the respondents stated that the qualification has positively contributed to the professional knowledge base and improved professional skills. Most respondents were very positive about the contribution of the qualification and were generally satisfied with the content of the social work subjects of the diploma course. This assessment was based on what the respondents thought about the course and it would be misleading to accept these findings at face value as the final verdict without further investigation of other aspects of impact. These views need to be confirmed with the assessment of the application of the knowledge and skills to establish the scope of impact. Furthermore, the Department of Police needs to comment on the performance of the respondents. The negative comments and sentiments were directed at the Department of Police. There are two main disappointments raised. The Department does not value the qualification and therefore unable to utilize the recipients of the qualification appropriately and adequately. The qualification has no direct effect or link to promotion. There is no doubt that the Police Department made a commitment to improve the professional capacity of the officers. It could be that it did not anticipate that the qualification would raise the expectations of the officers. There is high expectation from the non commissioned officers that the qualification would earn them promotion and that the Department will adequately utilize them. However, according to the respondents, the Department failed to realize this expectation. One of the respondents commented that: ‘the Department has spent a lot of money on sponsoring members to do the course but has continuously failed to utilize the graduates in appropriate job requirements’. The point of contention for this assertion could be based on two reasons. First, the department has no training policy to direct and guide the training and education. Some respondents stated that there was no career path policy for the recipients of the qualification. One of the respondents commented: ‘if the department is scared of putting the low ranks in the key positions, then what is the point of selecting them in the first place’. It is anticipated that situation would improve in the future. In 2004, the Police Review recommended that: ‘the Constabulary requires a coherent training policy which reflects the position of training within a modern organization. Training which is targeted to the individual on-the-job, meets identified needs, and develops the person for the good of the organization’ (Government of Papua New Guinea and Institute of National Affairs, 2004:58). Second, when the Department allowed other ranks to do the course it had no idea which aspects of police work specifically required this professional training. As the stu-

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dy revealed, 36 per cent of the respondents returned to their previous duties and 41 per cent were posted to new areas of duty, 21 per cent were given new responsebilities in their previous areas of police work. The information suggests that there is no criterion for deployment. A comparative study done by Shane, (1980) on police in five countries notes attitude of many American police forces similar to the finding discussed above. ‘Many American police forces are not particularly enthusiastic about college educated police, even those with incentives for police to get college education. The police officers themselves are often increasingly enthusiastic about going to college while on the force’ (Shane, 1980). The respondents highlighted and expressed disappointment that effect of the qualification on promotion is minimal and indirect. There was high expectations and anticipation that qualification would lead to promotion. Indeed, most of the respondents had promotion, but based on the accounts of the respondents, those promotions were not a direct result of the qualification. To reiterate this point, discussion on the respondents with degrees may help. Nine of the 13 respondents that have degrees were non commissioned officers. There were four commissioned officers that have degrees. For three of them, the qualifications had no effect on their ranks. One respondent was promoted to Chief Inspector rank from the rank of constable as a result of his law degree. The promotion was not a straightforward case. The respondent had to argue his case to be granted promotion. Two other respondents were already Chief Inspector and Inspector respectively when the degrees were obtained. The fourth of the four commissioned officers with degrees was promoted to inspector rank as a result of successful completion of cadet officer training. There could be two explanations to this dilemma. First, there is a structural and legal provision, which contracts with the perception of the respondents. Section 41 of the Police Act 1998 (Government of Papua New Guinea, 1998) outlines details of considering promotion based on a specialist qualification. The Act also states that the Com-missioner of Police determines which specialist qualifica-tion can be considered in section 41. It is clear that the diploma is not considered as a specialist qualification for promotion. Second, when the university education for police was introduced, it was clearly perceived by the Constabulary that the qualification would have no bearing on promotion. Rowley (Lovai, 2003) quoted Brigadier Nicholls the Commissioner of Police as saying, “the university portion of the course could…lead to some exemptions from promotion requirements” (Lovai, 2003). The university education was considered to enhance the professional ability of the police officers. The insignificance of qualification was again clearly shown at the time of recruitment. Regardless of the educational qualification at recruitment, all the respondents

started their careers either as probationary constable or Inspector for the cadets. Nine respondents have grade 12 education and three had advanced to commissioned officer ranks. Seven of the nine respond-ents were non commissioned officers (senior sergeant, 2 senior constables, first constable and 2 constables). One respondent is a degree holder prior to joining the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and at the time of the study he was a senior constable. Another respondent had joined the police with a university diploma and he was a serg-eant at the time of the study. This has been a general pattern observed in Britain, Israel and the United States (Shane, 1980). ‘The police to enter at the lowest rank and work their way up the system’ (Shane, 1980). However, in India and Netherlands people can enter police above the bottom rank (Shane, 1980). This highlights the practice in the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary that promotion is very much dependent on successful investigation and prosecutorial functions. Any educational achievement would enhance and strengthen the performance of the police officers, but could not be used directly for promotion. However, Shane reported after a comparative study of police in Britain, Israel, India, the United States and the Netherlands ‘there is a move towards intensifying and broadening the training of police officers and making promotions dependent, at least partially, on further education and training’ (Shane, 1980). Certain initiatives in the Department of Police are moving that direction. For instance, the Department has provided the opportunity for the recipients of the qualification to attend cadet officer training and upon successful completion of the training promoted to Inspector rank. At the time of the study three respondents (sergeant, senior constable and constable) were attending the cadet officer training course. The recommendation made by the team that evaluated the cadet officer course could be seen to be inline with making promotion dependent on further education. The team recommended: ‘That more opportunities be provided for high performing NCOs with the appropriate capacity and potential, to be promoted through appointment as Cadet Officers’ (Australian Institute of Police Management and Australian Graduate School of Police Management, 1998). Summary and Conclusion The results of the study discussed in this paper revealed that social work education has positive effect on Police but the respondents were disappointed with the way they were treated by the Police Department. The Department of Police failed to recognize the qualifications of the respondents and to appropriately utilize the knowledge

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and skills acquired. The study highlights that the experience of the respondents is consistent with police in other countries in terms of further education. The respondents’ expectation of making promotion dependent on further education is also shared by police in other countries. The findings of the study revealed the organizational challenges of the Police Department which singled out the failure to recognize the importance of higher education within a modern organization. REFERENCES Australian Institute of Police Management Australian Graduate School of Police Management, (1998) Royal Papua New Guinea An Evaluation of the Cadet Officer Course. Australia (Charles Sturt University): Australia Institute of Police Management. Government of Papua New Guinea, (1998) Police Force Act 1998. Waigani: Government of Papua New Guinea.

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Government of Papua New Guinea and Institute of National Affairs, (2004). Report of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Administrative Review Committee to the Minister for Internal Security Hon. Bire Kimisopa. The Department of Police: Konedobu, Port Moresby. Lovai B (2003). The Contribution of Social Work Education to Professional Education of Police Officers in Papua New Guinea (PhD thesis) Department of Social Policy and Social Work, La Trobe University: Melbourne, Australia O’Collins M (1993). Social Development in Papua New Guinea 1972 – 1990: Searching for Solutions in a changing World. Canberra: Australian National University. Shane PG (1980).Police and People A comparison of five countries. St.Louis: C.V.Mosby.