The Cook Islands Police Service (CIPS) is the police force of the Cook Islands. The current Commissioner of Police is Maara Tetava who was first appointed in 2009 and in 2011 was reappointed.

Operations

On 19 October 2016, an escaped prisoner Chris Rimamotu fatally shot his ex-wife and her new partner before turning the gun on himself at

Rarotonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 13,007 of a total population of 17,434. The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings a ...

. A review of the incident was conducted by former Commissioner Tevai Matapo and retired

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...

Assistant Commissioner Denis McDermott. The police service is implementing the recommendations of the review including forming a Tactical Support Unit to respond to firearms incidents as earlier recommended by a

New Zealand Police The New Zealand Police ( mi, Ngā Pirihimana o Aotearoa) is the national police service and principal law enforcement agency of New Zealand, responsible for preventing crime, enhancing public safety, bringing offenders to justice, and maintai ...

review in 2015. ''

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

'' reported on 16 May 2017 that twenty percent of the police force had resigned, over the last year, over concerns that they were the most poorly paid government workers. New officers earn

NZD The New Zealand dollar ( mi, tāra o Aotearoa; currency sign, sign: $, NZ$; ISO 4217, code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcair ...

$14,000.

Maritime wing

Among the Police Service's mandate is exercising sovereignty over the nation's 200 kilometre Exclusive Economic Zone. When the

United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 167 c ...

extended maritime nations' economic zones

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

provided a patrol boat to the Cook Islands and patrol boats to 11 other fellow members of the Pacific Forum. The Cook Islands operates a

Pacific-class patrol boat The Pacific class (also known as the Pacific Forum classToppan & Walsh, ''World Navies Today: Other Asia-Pacific Navies'' and the ASI 315 class) is a class of 22 patrol boats built by Australia and donated to twelve South Pacific countries. Th ...

the CIPPB ''Te Kukupa'' commissioned in May 1989 which received a re-fit in 2015. Australia is currently building a larger and more capable

Guardian-class patrol boat The Guardian-class patrol boats are a class of small patrol vessels designed and built in Australia and provided to small South Pacific Ocean countries as part of the Australian Government's Pacific Maritime Security Program. The class is desi ...

to replace the ''Te Kukupa'' for the police force.

References

External links

* Police {{CookIslands-stub