The Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

 have known a heavy ethnic conflict between 1998 and 2003, in which Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and other Pacific countries eventually intervened

Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands

The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands , also known as Operation Helpem Fren, was created in 2003 in response to a request for international aid by the Governor-General of the Solomon Islands...

 to restore peace

Peace

Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...

 and order

Social order

Social order is a concept used in sociology, history and other social sciences. It refers to a set of linked social structures, social institutions and social practices which conserve, maintain and enforce "normal" ways of relating and behaving....

. The nation has no standing army

Army

An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...

, however there is a national police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

 force, the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF), and at least one local constabulary

Constabulary

Constabulary may have several definitions.*A civil, non-paramilitary force consisting of police officers called constables. This is the usual definition in Britain, in which all county police forces once bore the title...

, in Honiara

Honiara

Honiara, population 49,107 , 78,190 , is the capital of the Solomon Islands and of Guadalcanal Province, although it is a separately administered town...

, the capital.

A commissioner

Commissioner

Commissioner is in principle the title given to a member of a commission or to an individual who has been given a commission ....

 who reports to the minister of police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

 heads the RSIPF of approximately 1,130 members. This force is supported by 250 RAMSI officers, who serve as advisors and in logistical and finance support. During 2006, an Australian police

Law enforcement in Australia

Law enforcement in Australia is facilitated by police, sheriffs and bailiffs under the control of state, territory and the Federal governments. A number of specialist agencies also administer a wide variety of legislation related to white-collar crime....

 official served as commissioner on a contract funded by the Australian government. However, on December 22, authorities declared him an "undesirable immigrant" while he was out of the country and did not allow him to return. There were 43 police stations open throughout the country.

The RSIPF has an inspection unit to monitor police discipline and performance.

List of RSIPF Commissioners

Name	Term of Office		Notes
	Start	End
Sir Fred Soaki	1982	1996
Bill Morrell (UK)	28 January 2003	March 2005
Shane Castles (AFP Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of... )	April 2005	December 2006
(vacant)	December 2006	15 May 2007
Mohammed Jahir Khan Jahir Khan Mohammed Jahir Khan is a senior Fijian police officer of Indian descent. As of January 2007, he holds the position of Senior Superintendent. He resigned from the Fiji Police force to take up his new post in Solomon Islands as the new Police Commissioner in May 2007, a position which he held until...  (Fiji)	15 May 2007	May 2008
Peter Marshall Peter Marshall (police commissioner) Peter Brendon Marshall, MNZM is the current New Zealand Commissioner of Police. The New Zealand Government appointed Marshall as Commissioner for a three-year term beginning 4 April 2011...  (acting) (NZ New Zealand Police The New Zealand Police is the national police force of New Zealand, responsible for enforcing criminal law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the peace throughout New Zealand... )	May 2008	March 2009
Peter Marshall	March 2009	7 February 2011
Walter Kola (acting)	7 February 2011	Incumbent

External links

• http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78791.htm
• http://www.isiservicescorp.com/mjcpatch.html