RBPF has come of age
| Mimi PHB |
SINCE the official establishment of the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) in 1921, the RBPF went through many challenges and changes.
The RBPF, one of the oldest government agencies in the Sultanate, has reached the age of 92 years and clearly shown the maturity of the force.
The guest of honour for the 92nd Police Day celebration was the Commissioner of Police, Pehin Orang Kaya Pendikar Alam Dato Paduka Seri Haji Hasrin bin Dato Paduka Haji Sabtu.
The Guard of Honour began with Panglima honorary salute, followed by a parade inspection led by the Commissioner of Police and then a presentation of the certificates of merits to 27 selected recipients.
The recipients were chosen for their hard work, dedication, cooperation and responsibility in making investigations, and helping the civilians and also for solving several criminal cases and catching the criminals and thus sentencing them to imprisonment.
Over 1,000 members of the RBPF in 13 contingents from departments, stations and units participated in the Guard of Honour which was led by the Commanding Officer of the Parade, ASP Sulaiman bin Alidin.
The chairman for the celebration was the Director of Operation, SAC Haji Mohd Jammy bin Haji Mohamad Shah Al-Islam.
The ceremony was also attended by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dato Seri Pahlawan Awg Bahrin bin Mohd Noor, as well as directors, deputy directors, commanding officers, heads of units and formations, senior officers and police officers along with lower ranked members, the former police commissioners, retired senior officers, penghulus and village heads .
The Parade and Static Guard of Honour ceremony was held at the RBPF Training Centre Parade Field in Gadong yesterday.
The Police Day celebrated annually on January 1 and the theme for this year is “Inculcating Professionalism and Integrity within the Force” (Membudayakan Profesionalisme dan Integriti Pasukan).
The 92nd Police Day celebration for this year is due to the enactment of the RBPF that was approved in 1921 but the date of the Police Force’s history was as early as 1906.
The RBPF faced many important and significant events that had taken place at the national, regional and international levels. In 1971, the RBPF celebrated its 50th Anniversary in which in the same year, His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam consented to be the Inspector General of the RBPF and the Royal banner was awarded by His Majesty on August 14, 1971.
In 1974, His Royal Highness Prince Mohamed Bolkiah was appointed as an Honorary Police Commissioner and in the same year, Her Royal Highness Hajah Masna became the Woman Police Commander in the first female police officer intake.
On May 5, 2005, His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah became the Deputy Inspector General Police of the RBPF.
The first local official to become the Police Commissioner was the late YAM Pengiran Setia Raja Pengiran Haji Jaya bin Pg Hj Rajid.
In the international and regional arena, RBPF was accepted as a member of Interpol and ASEANAPOL in 1984. RBPF was also involved in several peacekeeping missions abroad such as taking part in the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) mission in 1992 and the Commonwealth Observer Mission to South Africa (COMSA) mission the next year.
Meanwhile, in 2005, RBPF sent officers and lower ranked members to the Aceh Monitoring Mission. RBPF also sent two officers to the 9th International Monitoring Team in Mindanao, the Philippines last year.
