Commissioner of Police Auapa’au Logoitino Filipo says the Policy to ban couples from working together is “discriminatory” and their administration has opted to remove it, in an interview with Radio Polynesia.
The Commissioner questioned why couples cannot work for the same Ministry yet siblings can, “where is the fairness in that,” he asked.
Adding there are a lot of issues born when this policy was implemented in 2017 by former Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr Sailele Malielegaoi.
In 2017 then Minister of Police, Tuilaepa, directed that couples within the force as well as senior officers who have a son or a daughter in the police are to resign from the Ministry.
He cited concerns over the possible conflict of interest due to close familial ties among several officers.
Auapa’au said this policy created a lot of problems in the Ministry, such as encouraging defacto relationships, as Police Officers opted not to get married to avoid being kicked off the force.
He said they lost good officers as a result, as one or the other had to make the ultimate sacrifice of resigning from the Ministry.
Another issue he said is the lack of manpower, as a result of this policy and with officers opting for seasonal work overseas, the pool of recruits continues to decrease.
The Commissioner said only the Ministry of Police implemented this policy and it is time they move to terminate such a discriminatory policy.