Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu says he will stand by his officers, and he does not support any officer being charged based on public opinion without substantive evidence.
Tudravu highlighted this following calls from the public on social media that officers allegedly involved in drug activities should be suspended and removed from the Force.
He says at this point in time, it remains an unverified Viber message, and an investigation is underway.
He also says the Australian Federal Police is assisting them, and they will take all steps to gather the evidence and get to the root of who is sending the messages.
Tudravu says they want to find out the real connections that are out there.
When asked about the Viber messages that have been shared widely on social media, the Commissioner says an investigation has already been initiated, but at this point in time, he does not have the evidence to suspend the officers.
He also assured people commenting on social media that under his watch, they will get to the bottom of this.
He says the allegation is causing a lot of trauma and emotional stress to their police officers.
Tudravu also confirmed that Alex Forwood has agreed to give her statement.
He says plans are in place to send one of the senior CID officers abroad to record her statement and get other updates that she has.
He assured the public that if their investigation proves that the officers were tied to drug syndicates, they will answer to the law.
Police Commissioner, Rusiate Tudravu has admitted that some drug operations have been compromised after some of the officers were involved in tipping off drug dealers before the raids or arrests.
Tudravu has revealed this in an exclusive fijivillage Straight Talk interview based on public demand after questions being raised about the conduct of some of the police officers.
He stresses this misconduct will not be entertained and he will not keep officers who are found to be breaking the law.
When asked on why the public should trust the force when there are leaks and operations being compromised, Tudravu says 47 out of the 5,000 officers in the force have been dealt with since 2020.
He stresses there are more officers who are upholding the rule of law and they do not support the corrupt officers.
Tudravu says the Australian Federal Police is assisting them in the latest case, and they will take all steps to gather the evidence and get to the root of who is sending the viber messages.
Tudravu says they want to find out the real connections that are out there and verify the messages.
He says he does not have the evidence to suspend the officers at this stage.
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