Samoa’s Police Service responded to 823 calls from the public throughout the festive season averaging 75 calls a day over the 11 days from 23 December 2019 to 03 January 2020.
Responding to questions from Samoa Global News Police Commissioner Su’a Fuiavailiili Egon Keil said 170 arrests were made in the space of only 11 days included 1 man charged with murder, while the majority were for Drinking Under the Influence (DUI) and general acts of disorderly behaviour.
Sadly also for Samoa, the Police Commissioner confirmed that police responded to three “unconfirmed suicides”.
“At the top of the list for the most callouts was drunkenness or disorderly acts,”
“We issued 224 traffic citations and driving a vehicle while unlicensed took the top of the list of violations committed.”
The Samoa Police made a total of 170 arrests, 144 in Upolu and 26 in Savaii. That is an average of over 15 arrests a day.
“Only 10 of the arrestees were females, so yes, 94% were male,” said Su’a Fuiavailiili.
While the rest of Samoa takes a break to spend time with loved ones for Christmas and New Year, the Samoa Police Service are facing the busiest callout days of the festive season.
“The busiest day with the most callouts was Chirstmas day and the next busiest was New Years day the 1st of January,” confirmed the Samoa Police Commissioner.
“The section that received the most activity was General Policing which covers a bigger area; 46 of the arrests came by way of DUI,” added Su’a.
