Cook Islands Police Service
Agency overview
Employees107 (2016)[1]
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionCook Islands
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersAvarua
Elected officer responsible
Agency executive
  • Terepu Keenan, Commissioner of Police
Website
Official Facebook page

The Cook Islands Police Service (CIPS) is the police force of the Cook Islands. The current Commissioner of Police is Maara Tetava who was first appointed in 2009 and in 2011 was reappointed.[1]

Operations

On 19 October 2016, an escaped prisoner fatally shot his ex-wife and her new partner before turning the gun on himself in Rarotonga.[2] A review of the incident was conducted by former Commissioner Tevai Matapo and retired Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Denis McDermott.[3][4] The police service is implementing the recommendations of the review including forming a Tactical Support Unit to respond to firearms incidents as earlier recommended by a New Zealand Police review in 2015.[5]

Radio New Zealand reported on 16 May 2017 that twenty percent of the police force had resigned, over the last year, over concerns that they were the most poorly paid government workers.[6] New officers earn NZD$14,000.[6]

Maritime wing

Among the Police Service's mandate is exercising sovereignty over the nation's 200-kilometre (120 mi) exclusive economic zone (EEZ). When the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas extended maritime nations' EEZs Australia provided a patrol boat to the Cook Islands and patrol boats to 11 other fellow members of the Pacific Forum. The Cook Islands operated a Pacific-class patrol boat, the CIPPB Te Kukupa, from 1989 to 2022, having received a re-fit in 2015.[7] A larger and more capable Guardian-class patrol boat, CIPPB Te Kukupa II, that built in Australia entered service in 2022 to replace the Te Kukupa for the police force.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Blount, Alastair (30 April 2016). "A chat with the Cook Islands Police Commissioner". Cook Islands Sun. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  2. ↑ Moore, Richard (20 March 2017). "Double murderer shot himself". Cook Island News. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  3. ↑ Syme-Buchanan, Florence (19 October 2017). "A day that shocked the Cook Islands". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  4. ↑ "Paper No. 103 - Police Review - Independent & Comprehensive Review of a Violent Incident in Rarotonga, Cook Islands on 18–19 October 2016" (PDF). Parliament of the Cook Islands. 16 June 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  5. ↑ Moore, Richard (23 March 2017). "Cook Islands Police 'Urgently Need' Equipment, Training". Pacific Islands Report. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Cooks Islands police force loses officers". Radio New Zealand. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2018. In the most recent case six officers left in April and while Commissioner, Ma'ara Tetava, told the Cook Islands News it is sad to lose this experience, he says the force will be able to cope.
  7. ↑ "Patrol boat 'born again'". Cook Islands News. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  8. ↑ "Prime Minister Brown to Attend Handover Ceremony for CIPPB Te Kukupa II". Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration - Government of the Cook Islands (Press release). 9 June 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2023.


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