Samoa’s Prime Minister and China's Ambassador early this week picked up shovels and broke the ground at Tafaigata, officially signalling the start of construction of the Police Academy Project.

A number of Cabinet Ministers were on hand to witness the groundbreaking ceremony, including the Minister of Police and Prisons, Faualo Harry Schuster. Armed with two shovels, Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa and Ambassador Chao Xiaoliang got straight to business with the formalities.

There is a lot of history behind this project: conceptualised during the term of the former Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.) Administration prior to the 2021 General Election; disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic that inhibited any progress; and launched by a new Samoa Government led by the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (F.A.S.T.) party.

In fact this is Fiame’s first groundbreaking ceremony as Prime Minister for a major China-funded project.

An article (Tafaigata Police Academy Project launched) in the Wednesday 26 October 2022 edition of the Samoa Observer reported on the groundbreaking ceremony.

Making remarks at the ceremony, Mr. Xiaoliang said the new project is a symbol of friendship between the two nations since diplomatic relations were first established 47 years ago.

“China has been devoted to strengthening bilateral cooperation with Samoa and we have proudly achieved a lot together,” said the Ambassador.

“As the largest developing country in the world, China shares Samoa’s goals in sustainable social and economic development. 

“It is learned that social security is a prerequisite for development. Without sustainable security, sustainable development can not be ensured for sure.”

Faualo, in his address at the groundbreaking ceremony, highlighted the benefits of Samoa’s first ever police academy whose facilities will include classrooms, an operations training venue, accommodation, equipment room, a roofed sports field and grounds for defensive driving training.

“The Police Academic Project is an important one for Samoa, especially for those in the Police force who require upskilling and training in the area of law and order,” said the Minister.

“I certainly look forward to seeing a more skilled, professional and fit lot of officers on the field in the near future.”

Details of Samoa’s first proposed Police Academy first came to light in 2018, when Samoa and Chinese Government officials met to finalise the project in Shanghai China.

The construction schedule the former Administration vetted back then was for work to start in mid-2019 and completed in 2021. That did not happen for various reasons including the measles epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic that followed.

A year later in 2019 more details were revealed with the Samoa Government and the Ministry of Police saying the academy would become a “multi-agency training centre which would gradually become a regional centre of excellence for policing” in the Pacific region.

“The Samoa Police Service aims to open up its doors to other government agencies to utilise the academy as a training center specifically for training and capacity development," said a statement issued by the Ministry of Police at that time.

“Furthermore, to garner the support of the Pacific Island Chiefs of Police to consider this opportunity for the Samoa Police Academy as a regional center of excellence for policing."

It would be interesting to find out from the new F.A.S.T. Government if priorities have changed or remain the same and like its predecessor is keen on ensuring the Tafaigata Police Academy becomes a regional training centre.

We like the idea initially floated by the former Administration for the proposed Police Academy to become a regional policing training centre of excellence – simply because the academy will need to generate its own revenue in some form – in order to pay to maintain the upkeep of its facilities and to avoid relying on Samoa Government public funds.

Neighbouring Pacific Island nations could pay a fee to our Government every time they send their police officers to undergo training at the Tafaigata Police Academy.

The next issue is how many more police officers does Samoa need to add to the Ministry of Police current total workforce after the Police Academy becomes operational?

The Ministry of Police Prisons and Corrections Annual Report for the FYI 2019/2020 stated that the organisation had 702 active positions (616 sworn members and 86 non-sworn members). With a total country population of 192,126 at that time this works out to 3.6 police personnel per 1,000 inhabitants of Samoa.

So now we must link that ratio of police personnel to Samoa’s inhabitants and ask whether 3.6 police personnel per 1,000 inhabitants of Samoa is currently effective in stemming crime and illegal activity to make Samoa a safe place for its citizens?

We can only assume that the former Administration did all those calculations mentioned above to justify investment in such a facility before approaching China in 2018. 

Or did they go through that process? It is probably late now for that conversation to be held when the project’s groundbreaking ceremony was done early this week. And the F.A.S.T. Government by all indications appears keen to get on with the job.

Ultimately, we hope the Government makes the best use of the facilities that would come out from this investment, and if there are opportunities for it to become a regional training facility, as envisaged by their predecessors then grab it with both hands.