Recent police profiling reveals that 87 youths have chosen to reside on the streets of Suva.

Police Chief of Operations, ACP Livai Driu, highlights that the majority of the youths have undergone treatment at St. Giles Hospital and are now transitioning back to their regular lives.

ACP Driu is calling on the parents of the children to be more responsible and accountable for their children’s whereabouts.

“The question that we are now posing is the responsibility of the care of the parents, because they come from a family, they belong to a Tokatoka, Mataqali, and Yavusa, and they also come from the Vanua province, so those are some of the areas that we have identified.”

ACP Driu highlights the challenges of profiling and relocating the youths.

“And the police don’t have any power to remove youths from roaming around the cities, because that is the right they have every right to. The right of movement within public areas. We’ll only arrest them and bring them to the station if they commit any offense.”

The police, along with relevant assistants, have formed a taskforce that monitors and profiles street kids and assists in safely getting them home or to rehabilitation facilities.