A half-day clean-up at the police headquarters last week has laid the groundwork for a training programme to be held in the coming month.

The training programme will be implemented by a team from the New Zealand Police in collaboration with the Cook Islands Police.

In statement, Cook Islands Police said a group of young workers began clearing the Police HQ on Thursday morning, removing old and broken equipment, outdated cabinets, and other debris.

This clean-up effort is part of the Police’s ongoing initiative to enhance performance and highlight one of its core values – professionalism.

The Police also acknowledged JoJo Heather of T&M Heather Limited for assisting with the clean-up. The effort to tidy up the property started on Thursday and continued around the building on Friday.

Trevor Pitt, the spokesperson for the Cook Islands Police Services, told Cook Islands News: “The cleanup started on Thursday with a handful of young boys helping out. That was a half-day effort. And today (Friday), all available staff have been asked to contribute.”

“The HQ tends to accumulate a lot of waste over time, be it old equipment and boxed papers, and cabinets. T&M Heather has kindly agreed to help with transporting the waste.”

Pitt also highlighted the significance of the clean-up in preparation for the upcoming training.

“This current drive to spruce up the HQ is the beginning of getting shipshape for a round of training coming up next month,” he said.

“I’ll be releasing more about that soon but it is a project that is a collaborative programme with NZ Police. We have had a team here from NZ working closely with us on the training concept and design.”

Pitt said the broader objective behind the clean-up “is part of encouraging the staff to uphold one of our key values, which is: Professionalism”.

“We want to promote our values by demonstrating our commitment to the principles behind policing and serving the community.”

Additional reporting: Cook Islands Police Media.