POLICE Commissioner Mathew Varley has confirmed yesterday that 125 officers will be re-armed as of May 8.

He said there will be a commissioning parade held at the Rove Police Headquarters to specially endorse the qualified RSIPF officers to carry firearms.

“We are ready to undertake this important task.

“I wrote to the Prime Minister last week informing him that we had completed all the requirements of the rearmament project and I am satisfied that the RSIPF is ready for rearmament,” Mr Varley said.

Commissioner Varley said officers from the Police Response Team (PRT) and Close Personal Protection (CPP) have undergone rigorous training by RAMSI and have successfully qualified to be armed.

The authorised weapons have been purchased, armoury has been completed and inspections had been conducted, Mr Varley said.

This is the last significant step to prepare the RSIPF for RAMSI’s departure in June 30.

“I personally have closely scrutinised all aspects of our preparations and I believe the community can be confident that the RSIPF is ready for initial rearmament. Everything that can be done has been done.

“The RSIPF will commence limited rearmament on Monday 8 May with a police parade at Rove Headquarters to. The Governor-General, Prime Minister and Minister for Police, National Security and Correctional Services have been invited to be guests of honour at this important occasion.

“Rearmament is important because it allows the RSIPF to enforce law and order of the country independently, post RAMSI.

“The work to prepare RSIPF for limited rearmament commenced in 2013 when the Solomon Islands Government requested that RAMSI prepare the RSIPF for limited rearmament. In late 2016 the Cabinet approved the RSIPF to move to the implementation stage of the Project.

“Since that time we have been working very hard behind the scene, further work has been ongoing to finalise all the training and governance requirements.”

He also said all rules and documentation for the limited rearmament has been finalised.

Commissioner Varley also wants to assure all Solomon Islanders that the RSIPF has an independent, robust and stringent investigation for any incident involving a firearm.

From May 8 they will issue firearms on a day by day basis to authorised officers and the RAMSI Participating Police Force advisors will continue to provide armed support and mentoring to those RSIPF officers until RAMSI concludes on June 30, 2017.