“All police officers should be Christians. It is not safe to give an oath and gun to just anyone,” said Francis Elkang of Ulimang, Ngaraard, who had filed a complaint with police over off-duty officers who he said attacked his family members.
Mr. Elkang said that four people showed up at his house looking to fight his son-in-law. He said that three of them were off-duty officers, Malla Junior Temengil, Hyot Blailes and Jeckerson Koshiba and another person.
“I was asleep and my daughter woke me up saying these guys are trying to attack my son-in-law. I went out and begged them to stop and pulled my son-in-law to the back while my wife and daughters tried to keep them away,” explained Mr. Elkang in a phone interview.
He said he begged them to leave and they did but came back again in a different car. This time, Ulimang legislator John Temengil was with them.
He said that one of the off-duty officers had a high pressure airgun with him and he was pointing it and threatening them. He said one his daughters who was carrying her child was pushing him and he slapped her causing her to fall to the ground with her child.
The police were called and he said they arrived about an hour late. Three were arrested and taken to jail.
Mr. Elkang said that a call was made to Officer Ngiramengior by the wife of one of the arrested officers and Officer Ngiramengior released them from jail.
“I am not young anymore and having my family, my wife and daughters threatened like this is very hard to take,” expressed Mr. Elkang. “One of them said to me, how far do you want to take this?” Elkang believes this is an understood threat.
When contacted for information, Ministry of Justice said that they take allegations of officers’ misconduct very seriously, adding that they can’t comment as the case is under investigation. Regarding the issue of early release of arrested officers, MOJ says that rules authorize up to 24 hours hold but there is no requirement for hold to last an entire 24 hours.