Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Pacific police chiefs have established a new regional policing organization aimed at combating transnational crime, including drug trafficking, human smuggling, child sexual exploitation, money laundering, and firearms trafficking.

The Pacific Community of Policing, or PACPOL, was formally launched during the 53rd Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police Conference held in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, held from 13-16 October.

Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) commissioner David Manning, who was named PACPOL's inaugural chair, said transnational crime was the biggest policing challenge facing the region.

"Transnational crime is crime that basically does not respect borders," Manning said.

He said criminal networks were exploiting gaps in cooperation among Pacific jurisdictions, making greater intelligence sharing and coordinated enforcement necessary.

PACPOL brings together the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police and the Pacific Police Initiative under a single Pacific-led organization.

Manning said the organisation would combine personnel, expertise, training, and resources to disrupt criminal networks operating across national boundaries.

"PACPOL will be judged not by the number of meetings we hold, but by our collective work to dismantle criminal networks, intercept illicit drugs and firearms, and work together as one region to serve our communities," he said.

Asked whether PACPOL would eventually become the Pacific's equivalent of Interpol, Manning said that was the intention, although considerable work remained.

"That is the aim, yes. That is our intent, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done," he said.

Manning stressed that regional cooperation would respect the sovereignty and laws of individual Pacific jurisdictions, with police chiefs continuing to meet annually to coordinate responses to emerging threats.

The organization brings together 23 Pacific nations and territories, including Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, and the Northern Marianas.

Wallis and Futuna was admitted as its newest member during the Saipan conference.

Northern Marianas Department of Public Safety commissioner Anthony Macaranas said the initiative would strengthen intelligence gathering and cooperation among Pacific police agencies and federal law enforcement partners.

"It's the intelligent gathering, you know, the cooperation among each other to help each other in combating some of the crimes happening, the transnational, the drugs, you know," Macaranas said.

PACPOL builds on more than five decades of regional police cooperation dating back to 1970, when seven members established the South Pacific Chiefs of Police Conference.

The organization became known as the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police in 2004.