Fuiavailili Egon Lincoln Keil (born ~1965) was

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

's Police Commissioner from March 2015 to August 2021.

Early life

Keil is from the village of

Palauli Palauli is a district and village of Samoa, with a population (2016 Census) of 9,300. It consists of two sections on the southern side of Savai'i. The capital is Vailoa which is also referred to as Vailoa i Palauli (Vailoa in Palauli district). ...

. He is the son of businessman Maposua Rudolf Keil. He was educated at

California State University, Dominguez Hills California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system. In 2020, ...

, graduating with a

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in criminal justice administration. After working for a year as a prison guard in the

Utah Department of Corrections The Utah Department of Corrections (UDC) is a government agency dedicated to the management and supervision of convicted Felony, felons in the United States, U.S. state of Utah. It is currently led by the Executive Director Brian Nielson (Utah D ...

, he joined the

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

in 1995. He served for 17 years with the LAPD, rising to the rank of Assistant Watch Commander. He returned to Samoa in 2012, where he operated a car repair business and on the board of the Samoa Fire and Emergency Services Authority.

Police commissioner

In March 2015 Keil was appointed Samoan Police Commissioner, the first person from outside the Samoan police to be appointed to the job. When appointed he announced his intention to improve police accountability, and shortly after being appointed he suspended four police officers for being involved in criminal activity. He subsequently introduced compulsory training for police officers. In December 2015 another three police officers were charged with corruption. Keil's attempts at reform led to discontent within the police force, and in December 2015 an anonymous letter was sent to the prime minister and government officials alleging the police were being run "like a military base". In August 2016 Keil was charged with perjury, unlawful detention, providing false statements, and disorderly conduct over the arrest of a man by armed police in 2015. He was subsequently suspended by Cabinet. All charges were dropped due to lack of evidence in November 2016, but during his suspension 40 police officers signed a petition of no confidence against him. The day after he returned to work he was detained and charged with incitement to murder. He was again suspended, and subsequently charged with 259 charges, including 120 counts of illegal possession of firearms, eight counts of intimidation, six of uttering threatening words, and one count of inciting murder. In February 2017 all charges were again dismissed for lack of evidence. He was reinstated to his position in March 2017. He was appointed to a second three year term in July 2018. He subsequently oversaw the investigation of the 2019 Samoa assassination plot. and the police's enforcement of emergency orders as part of the

2019 Samoa measles outbreak The 2019 Samoa measles outbreak began in September 2019. As of 6 January 2020, there were over 5,700 cases of measles and 83 deaths, out of a Samoan population of 200,874. Over three percent of the population were infected. The cause of the o ...

and

COVID-19 pandemic in Samoa The COVID-19 pandemic in Samoa is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Samoa on 18 November 2020. The c ...

. During the

2021 Samoan constitutional crisis A constitutional crisis began in Samoa on 22 May 2021 when O le Ao o le Malo (Head of State) Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II issued a proclamation purporting to prevent the Legislative Assembly from meeting in the wake of the gene ...

Keil accompanied Chief Justice

Satiu Simativa Perese Satiu Simativa Perese (born 1962) is a Samoan judge. He has served as the Chief Justice of Samoa since 12 June 2020. Perese was born in Magiagi, Samoa and educated at Magiagi Primary School. His family moved to New Zealand when he was a child. ...

to the locked doors of parliament as a sign of support for the rule of law. On 7 July, he announced he would be leaving the country to receive health treatment. He returned to Samoa in late July. In August 2021 he announced that he would retire when his contract ended in January 2022. On 23 August 2021 he resigned with immediate effect. In July 2022 he was succeeded as police commissioner by Auapa'au Logoitino Filipo. In November 2021 he was awarded the policing Champion of Change award by the Australasian Council of Women and Policing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keil, Fuiavailili Egon Living people Samoan police officers Los Angeles Police Department officers People from Palauli California State University, Dominguez Hills alumni Year of birth missing (living people)