POLICE NIGHT OPERATION REVEALS HEARTBREAKING STORIES OF PORT MORESBY’S STREET DWELLERS

CAPTION: Pictured in Downtown Port Moresby, the woman—a single mother living with a disability—has been surviving on the streets for nearly four years. Picture supplied by Police Media

A night operation carried out by the Commander of the National Capital District and Central Provinces, Benjamin Turi, and his officers around Port Moresby City on Friday saw many unfortunate people confessing to them that they were sleeping on the streets for various reasons.

Commander Turi, who was accompanied by Chief Inspector Ruben Giusu and his officers from Saraga Reservist Base, commenced their operation at 10 pm and visited sites where they saw people sleeping on the street late in the night.

One of the people they came across was a single mother who is also a person living with disability who had been doing street vending around the Stop and Shop area and Street Scene in town for some years.

From the information provided by Commander Turi and his men, the woman had a six-year-old boy, and her husband had left her since 2023, and she had been doing street vending there for her and her son’s survival.

Commander Turi said the woman had been residing there for years and it is not good so he is now calling on the relatives of the woman to find ways to move her out of that location. He said the night operation conducted by the police officers within the city had seen people from all parts of the country living at different locations in Town.

He said according to the information collected after screening the people that they picked up and transported to Saraga it was confirmed that 32 people were taken there.

He said out of the 32 people Eight were from Eastern Highlands, Eight from Simbu, Six from Morobe, three from Central, and one each from Oro, Madang, East New Britian, East Sepik, Gulf, Manus and Western Highlands.

He said most of them have their own reasons to be there but for the safety of them all the police officers picked them up and interviewed them to know why they were there.

Commander Turi said some of them were sleeping there to do vending during the night while others sleep there because they have no proper homes while the others loiter around and sleep there when it is night.

He said police will continue this operation throughout the city because some of these people who sleep there had been living there for years which the woman mentioned above is one of them who had been there for almost four years.

“ I want to thank Chief Inspector Ruben Giusu and his team plus other police officers who joined the team in the operation. This is a humanitarian approach we had done to physically approach the individuals to hear from them why they are sleeping there.

Many time we categorise them as criminals when one amongst them commit crime at the location they reside. But after the operation we learnt a lot that many of those people have their own reasons to sleep on the streets of Port Moresby, Commander Turi said.

He also called on the relatives of those residing there to check on them and accommodate them in their homes or find ways to send them back home to their respective provinces would be the best decision.