00:00 Good news for prisons officers, bad news for the criminals.
00:05 Prisons Commissioner Deoposad Ramutang confirms to TV6 that after years of lobbying, prisons
00:10 officers will soon have an additional layer of protection.
00:14 The law was passed where the prison commissioner can now issue firearms on his officers of
00:20 duty.
00:21 The law was passed last week.
00:23 It was assented to by the president.
00:26 Back in February during debate on the bill, senators had expressed concern about the means
00:30 by which officers would be granted arms.
00:33 But the commissioner assures all is above board.
00:36 It's a process that I will not go public with.
00:40 I will just let you know it is similar to what it is lobbying at FQL, to the commission
00:46 of police.
00:47 It's a similar process to that.
00:50 Where there is a stringent check and balance.
00:53 Officers are in need and officers do have to apply.
00:57 An assessment is done.
01:00 The news comes just weeks after a brazen gun attack on the deputy commissioner of prisons.
01:05 The commissioner says the threats have been coming fast and furious.
01:09 With the last attack on the deputy commissioner, there is a lot of information coming to us
01:16 that other seniors are under threat.
01:18 I know you told me you all get so many threats, right?
01:23 Some legitimate, some probably not.
01:25 But if you could roughly quantify it, how many would you say for the year thus far?
01:30 As much as days in a year have passed so far.
01:33 On Monday, police reported that a prison officer's car was destroyed by fire when he went to
01:39 visit his girlfriend in Lavant Hill.
01:41 The cause of the fire is undetermined pending further investigation.
01:46 Renassa Cutting, TV6 News.
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