Amid growing concern about violence in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands police have promised to get tough with people carrying weapons in public.
Photo: RNZI/Sally Round
Last weekend, a nightclub security guard was stabbed - an incident our correspondent says has shocked locals.
Florence Syme Buchanan said this came after a triple killing in October, business robberies and sexual assaults, and people are wondering if Rarotonga was changing.
Police commissioner Ma'ara Tetava said police would not tolerate people carrying weapons in public places and are prepared to search people on the spot if they are thought to be carrying weapons.
Ms Syme Buchanan said police were also re-activating the Tactical Response Group and will put in closed circuit television around the main nightclubs and improve lighting.
"To have lights in the area so that they are well lit, but there are still other places that young people go to and congregate, where there is no real ability for police to monitor them, unless they double their force in the weekend and they haven't said that they would do that."