Pacific Police Chiefs officially launched two state-of-the-art training and development facilities this week on 10 December, in Brisbane, Australia, named the Pinkenba Hub and Pinkenba Training Centre, which is a part of the Pacific Policing Initiative’s (PPI) commitment to supporting law enforcement across the region.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Reece Kershaw and Australia’s Attorney-General Hon. Mark Dreyfus KC MP officially opened the new PPI facilities, with representatives from Pacific Island countries, including Tonga’s Police Commissioner, Shane McLennan.

Pinkenba Hub

The Pinkenba Hub is an AFP-supported training and education facility created to support the PPI, and will serve as the headquarters for the PPI's Pacific Police Support Group (PPSG), a multinational deployment group designed to respond to planned and unplanned events across the Pacific, and also assist Pacific policing partners in further training and development, Australian Federal Police stated.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said, "The Pinkenba Hub symbolises our unwavering commitment to enhancing security and law enforcement capabilities across the Pacific region based on shared values and shared cultures."

The Pinkenba Hub will offer secondments for officers across the Pacific, along with policing administration, management and leadership development opportunities.

“This is a state-of-the art training facility that will boost the collective law enforcement capabilities of our policing partners across the region through crucial collaboration and learning opportunities,” AFP Commissioner Kershaw said.

Members of the PPSG will use the training centre as part of their training. 

The Pinkenba Training Centre features an operational safety and practice warehouse with modern state-of-the art training capabilities.

The capabilities include a simulated house environment, a multi-floor training area and a dark scenario space, which all can be reconfigured to replicate multiple environments to enhance training for officers.

Additionally, the Pinkenba Training Centre facility features syndicate and training rooms to provide virtual training capabilities to reflect real-life emergency situations.

The Pinkenba Hub was made available to the PPI from the Australian Government in July, and since then, more than 200 Pacific police have attended and participated in training programs at the Pinkenba Training Centre. This includes operational safety training, public order management, investigations training and close personal protection.

“Sharing knowledge and resources, along with building stronger joint capabilities and existing relationships with our Pacific law enforcement partners is vital for enhancing the security of communities across the region and for collectively countering evolving regional security threats."

Pacific Policing Initiative (PPI)

The Pacific Policing Initiative (PPI) was endorsed by the Pacific leaders at the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting on 28 August, in Nuku'alofa.

The PPI’s design process, led by Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) Commissioner David Manning, is continuing with members of the PICP.

The PPI has three focus areas, including: to establish up to four regional police training centres to be located in the Pacific to enhance policing capabilities through specialist training and operational support for Pacific police personnel; a Pacific Police Support Group (PPSG), with a ready pool of trained Pacific police to deploy in response to Pacific country requirements, such as for major event management or additional capacity in times of crisis; a PPI Policing Development and Coordination Hub to be hosted in Brisbane, Australia, including access to state of the art Australian Federal Police (AFP) facilities for training.

The Government of Australia has committed approximately $400 million over five years, in supporting of the implementation of the PPI.

"It was a major objective that we had from this Pacific Islands Forum meeting. This demonstrates how Pacific Leaders are working together to shape the future that we want to see," said Australia's Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese in August, at the Pacific Islands Forum's Leaders meeting.