Police to supervise Community Service by offenders [1]
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - 18:57. Updated on Monday, May 18, 2015 - 17:55.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES.
From left, Mr Justice Charles Cato, Police Commissioner Grant O'Fee, Hon. Sifa Tu'utafaiva, and Susana Faletau.
An important development in Tonga's criminal justice system, which will allow offenders to carry out Community Service under police supervision, will provide an alternative sentence to a jail term.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed today between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Police to include the assistance of police officers in supervising offenders who are sentenced to carry out Community Service Orders in Tonga.
Community service orders in most cases are imposed on first time offenders and young offenders.
The Minister of Police Hon. Sifa Tu'utafaiva, the Police Commissioner Grant O'Fee, and the CEO of the Ministry of Justice Susana Faletau signed the agreement, witnessed by Mr Justice Charles Cato, at the Tonga Police Headquarters in Longolongo.
Justice Cato said this is an extremely important initiative of having the police to assist probation officers to supervise those who have been sentenced by the court to carry out community work.
"Community service order is a sentence where offenders have to work to fulfill the obligations to society where they have broken the law. It's not a soft option but an alternative sentencing particularly for young offenders to deal with them, rather than put them in prison."
He said this could be a win-win situation for everyone, which could mean the prison population is reduced if it is allowed to work effectively and he hoped that it does, because this is an important development in Tonga's criminal justice system. "It's providing the systematic organization with the provision of police, vehicles and equipment to help assist with the supervision," he said.
Support
The Minister of Police supported the initiative because he has seen how community service abroad is being properly supervised.
"I have seen some people in Tonga not working hard enough to realize that it is a sentence. It is not a soft option but a sentence and I support the police being involved to supervise them properly," he said.
Susana said the Minister of Justice Hon. Clive Edwards supports the initiative and with the police assistance it would help relieve the workload at the small Probation Division Unit under the Ministry of Justice.
"Probation officers have other duties, including writing pre-sentence reports to judges. This requires interviews of various people including family members as well as supervising the work of offenders under the community service order. In a small developing country like Tonga its good that we share resources between Ministries," she said.
It is understood there are only four probation officers manning the unit in Nuku'alofa, at this stage.
Probation
In Tonga, the community service order is issued by a judge, if he feels that a jail term is not appropriate in all the circumstances and that it will rehabilitate and re-integrate an offender into society as a responsible and law abiding citizen. Once an order is issued the Probation Division has the responsibility to ensure the implementation and supervision of the order.
A personal report of the offender provided by the probation officer is so that the judge can ensure that any sentence passed on the convicted offender either a jail time or community service orders - is suitable to discipline and punish the offender for the offence committed but also help the offender return to the community as a responsible citizen.
The Waste Authority will provide equipment including rubbish bags for the community service that includes offenders picking up rubbish and other labour work, while others are required to attend rehabilitation programs at the Salvation Army or other NGO's.
The MOU will run for six months starting today and will be reviewed after six months. If successful it will be extended for a further period of time as agreed to by both Ministries.