Alleged misconduct by Nabua police officers

The Police Internal Affairs Unit is investigating a complaint about the alleged misconduct of four police officers earlier this month.

A complaint filed by the owner of a shopping centre at Viria West in Vatuwaqa on 2nd July, 2017 claims that four officers from the Nabua Police Station entered her shop and allegedly swore at her and her son after they asked them to produce a business license.

The complainant, Sushila Wati claims the officers entered her shop at around 10pm on the 2nd of this month and told them to close down if they could not produce a business license.

Wati says the officers told them to close the shop as the operating hours are from 8am to 10pm but they had a license to operate for 24 hours.

She claims that while she went to get their business license, the four officers left and allegedly swore at them.

Wati says the officers were not in police uniform and were using a police vehicle.

Police Spokesperson Ana Naisoro says the step taken to ask the owners to close was both a proactive measure and because the owners when asked to produce the business license failed to do so.

She says it was proactive in the sense that a group of youths were gathered near and around the shop and the officers asked the owners not to sell from outside their shop into the early hours of the morning.

Naisoro says as for the business license, when asked to produce it to see the permitted operating hours they could not and said it was under process.

She says they were given a chance to produce proof of documentation that it was being processed such as a receipt but they could not hence the decision was made to close the shop.

Naisoro adds the officers were merely doing their work in being proactive and applying the law.

She also stresses that the issue of their alleged misconduct will also be investigated.