Patrol boat officers say they should be praised instead of PRT on blue banana boat arrests

 

A concerned Police Officer of Patrol Boat Auki says commendation should be given to the Commanding Officers of RSIPV Auki and not the Police Respond Team.

This is in regards to last week’s arrest of three Vietnamese fishing boats at the Indispensable Reef.

In an interview with this paper yesterday the Police Officer who wants his name withheld said the Police Respond Team failed during the operation.

He said actions taken by the Police Respond Team, such as firing of teargas was unable to stop the blue boats.

The officer adds that the Police Response Team along with RAMSI officers failed to bring with them life rounds that would be used as warning shots to stop the ships.

He explained that the hot pursuit was successful as a result of quick thinking of captains and crews of the Patrol Boat Auki to ram the first ship.

“We rammed the boat six times but the first boat failed to stop, but on the seventh round we made an aggressive approach, ramming the left side of the first ship that the ship nearly sink before the ship stopped.

“We capture the captain of the first ship then use him as a bait to convince the two other ships to stop.

“This strategy worked out well for us and that leads to the arrest of the three blue boats,” the officer said.

He said the Police Respond Team is suitable for crowd control and not navigational operation.

The Officer said the incident demonstrates that the two Patrols must be rearmed and not rely on the Police Respond Team to lead in such operation.

Three Vietnamese blue boats were caught fishing illegally off a reef system in the Rennell and Bellona province last week.

Both the police patrol boats RSIPV Auki and RSIPV Lata, assisted by intelligence from the Forum Fisheries Agency, were involved in capturing the three boats while a fourth is said to have got away due to adverse weather conditions.

The arrests were made on Sunday by police and fisheries officers at the Indespensable Reef about 50 km south of Rennell Island.

A total of 43 crew members were detained.