Police recruitment increased

The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary [RPNGC] is conducting an additional recruitment drive at the Bomana National Centre of Excellence [NCoE] in the National Capital District [NCD] to increase the number of recruits entering police training.

With the opening of new infrastructure at the Bomana NCoE, the RPNGC Management has increased the intake per batch from 300 to 500 recruits.

This initiative supports the National Government's commitment to expand the national police force to 10,000 personnel by 2030.

In line with the ongoing Law and Justice Sector reforms, from 2026 onwards, the constabulary aims to further increase intake numbers to approximately 700 recruits per batch.

In December 2025, a public call-out invited interested applicants from NCD, Central, and Gulf provinces to apply for this additional recruitment drive.

A total of 7,696 applications were received via the RPNGC online portal.

Of these, 2,711 applicants were shortlisted, while the remainder were unsuccessful due to reasons such as missing documents, low grades in Mathematics and English, being over the age limit, or failing to meet other recruitment criteria.

The shortlisted applicants will proceed through the recruitment process to determine their eligibility for the additional intake.

Successful candidates from this drive will join the second batch of 2025 recruits drawn from the Highlands and New Guinea Islands regions for police training commencing in April 2026.

Due to time constraints, this additional recruitment drive is limited to NCD, Central, and Gulf provinces.

A separate call-out for the 2026 Police Recruitment will be announced later.

Of the 2,711 shortlisted applicants, 2,086 are from NCD, 463 from Central, and 162 from Gulf Province. The recruitment process for NCD candidates is currently underway at the Bomana NCoE. Once completed, the team will proceed to Central and Gulf provinces. The NCD recruitment began on Monday, 9 February 2026, and is expected to finish by the end of this week.

The recruitment process includes:

From the 2,086 NCD applicants, 1,638 came for screening and validation, while 448 did not show up. Following document checks, 518 candidates were removed for reasons including no National Identification (NID) card, submission of fake documents, or failure to meet height requirements.

It was also discovered that nine candidates had presented falsified documents. Upon questioning, they identified small printing companies and individuals responsible for producing these forgeries.

Police will investigate and pursue criminal charges against those involved in producing these fake documents. All fake documents were confiscated, and the applicants were cautioned and dismissed from the process.

To improve and safeguard the recruitment process, the RPNGC will engage a Criminal Investigation Detective Team in future drives to thoroughly investigate and criminally charge applicants who submit fraudulent documents.

Applicants are reminded that producing fake documents is a criminal offence.

A total of 1,120 candidates has passed the screening and validation stage and have sat for the entry test.

Those who pass this stage have proceeded to the interview phase which is currently being conducted.

In promoting equal employment opportunities, the constabulary has enhanced its recruitment system by conducting scheduled provincial awareness and walk-in application support tours.

These sessions provide hands-on assistance in completing and submitting online applications, as well as support for applicants facing connectivity issues or lacking digital resources.

To reach more people, especially in rural areas, the recruitment team will visit provinces and districts nationwide.

The outreach began in Gulf and Central provinces and will continue across the country.

A call-out for the 2026 recruitment for both the regular police training and police cadet training will be advertised in May 2026.