Cook Islands

AuthorGeorge Kurian
Pages312

Page 312

Official country name: Cook Islands

Capital: Avarua

Geographic description: A group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean

Population: 21,388 (est. 2005)

Cook Islands
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Structure and Organization

Under the authority of the prime minister, the minister of police is responsible for the maintenance of law and order. He is assisted by the chief of police headquartered in Avarua. Most of the policemen are on Rarotonga, and many outlying islands have no police presence at all or, at best, are served by a single constable. All policemen are natives.

Education and Training

Selected members are sent to New Zealand for training and after their return are assigned to conduct in-service training for their fellow officers at a small school established at the police headquarters. Courses last about one week and provide additional information by the distribution of all lectures to police in outer areas. Mobile training schools also tour the islands periodically. In addition, some members of the force are brought to Rarotonga each year for refresher training.

Uniforms and Weapons

Police officers wear short-sleeved shorts and slacks of khaki cotton drill, a red tie, brown shoes, and a peaked cap of matching khaki color. They are not armed with either firearms or batons, but each officer is issued a pair of handcuffs.

CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM

The traditional practice of controlling public behavior through social sanctions imposed by the family and local village councils reduces the need for formal penal institutions. In fact, there is only one correctional facility: a plantation at Arorangi that produces commercial crops. Its official capacity is sixty-eight, but the occupancy level is only one-third. Prisoners fulfill their sentences by working on the plantation.

Prison Statistics

The total prison population is 19, yielding a prison population rate of 90 per 100,000 population. Of the total...

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