The Family Protect Act (FPA) will be gazetted on the 1st of April, almost a year after it became an Act.
Police Commissioner Frank Prendergast who is part of the FPA council said that date was confirmed during the council’s first meeting on Thursday.
“The Council is mandated under the Family Protection Act (FPA) to monitor and report to the Minister on the implementation of that Act.”
The police chief said since the date was confirmed, they are all working hard towards the 1st of April.
The council is chaired by the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Women, Youth and Family Affairs and the deputy chair is the Permanent Secretary for Justice.
“Other members are the family support centre, Permanent Secretary for Health and me.
“It’s quiet an important step along the way to the gazettal and implementation of the Family Protection Act.”
He said they are in the process of training the trainers for the Family Protection Act to be rolled out.
“We have trainers to train every province including Honiara and Guadalcanal Province.
“Those trainers have gone back out and we will be training officers in the provinces to ensure we are ready for 1st of April.
“The Family Protection Act is a very complex piece of legislation and has a lot of responsibilities for police.
He said they are expecting some problems when the act is initially rolled out, but they will be monitoring that very closely and taken steps to mitigate those problems.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
