Matilda Omonaiye/
Latest report from police authorities has shown a sharp decline in crime rate nationwide, with Lagos, Nigeria’s economic honey-pot leading on a public complaint chart released Wednesday, by the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris.
According to the report prepared by the Complaint Response Unit (CRU) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), there is also a decline in cases of professional misconduct against policemen as a result of Idris’ directive to officers at police formations nationwide to ensure appropriate and timely actions on matters from CRU.
In the 2016 Second Quarter report covering April, May and June, a total number of 906 complaints were received nationwide, which is less than the 1,054 complaints received in the first quarter of 2016.
The report says Lagos, FCT-Abuja, Rivers and Anambra State Police Commands account for over 50 per cent of total complaints received, while Jigawa, Yobe and Kebbi States Police Commands are at the bottom of State Ranking with no case reported against the Police during the period under review, just as Kebbi State Police Command still keeps a clean sheet with no case reported since the inception of the CRU in November, 2015.
There were 195 complaints from Lagos, FCT-Abuja (153), Rivers (100), and Anambra (41).
The Officer in Charge of CRU, Mr. Abayomi Shogunle attributed the decline in the number of complaints against the Police to increasing compliance by officers to professional best practices in the conduct of their duties.
He said: “There was a steady decline in number of cases reported from 19 State Commands namely: Abia, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Delta, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Katsina, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Taraba, Ebonyi, Kogi, Nasarawa and Edo as well as FCT-Abuja Command compared to the number reported in the first quarter report.”
The report further revealed that out of the cases received, 799 were successfully resolved/closed, 35 cases were found to be false/unrelated, while 72 cases are still pending as investigations were ongoing.
Telephone tops in reporting platforms with 537 calls, the report says.
On measures taking to ensure that Police operate within the acceptable standard, the report states that the Unit always embark on special monitoring of activities of Safer Highway Patrol teams as well as visitation of selected Police stations in the South-West, South-South, South-East and North-Central regions. CRU Town hall meetings with citizens were also held in Enugu, Awka and Abakaliki in collaboration with stakeholders.
Shogunle told Chief Detective magazine: “There was a sustained enlightenment regarding CRU activities across both electronic and print media during the period under review, raising awareness among Nigerians on the workings of the Unit with emphasis on the “BAIL IS FREE” – #BailisFree campaign. The CRU also facilitated a research visitation by Amnesty International Nigeria to Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) detention facilities in Anambra, FCT-Abuja and Enugu Police Commands in the month of June 2016, to enable the organization get a fuller understanding of the workings of SARS.”
Police authorities established the CRU to enable members of the Public who might not be satisfied with Police services reach the higher authority for resolution of their complaints and Justice.
Calling for more support of the CRU initiative, which he described as the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa, Shogunle said: “The motto of the Unit is “No to Impunity”. A copy of the full report is available for download at www.npf.gov.ng or www.npf.gov.ng/complaint.
“The various platforms to reach the CRU include: Calls Only: 0805 700 0001, 0805 700 0002 | SMS and WhatsApp Only: 0805 700 0003 | BBM: 58A2B5DE Twitter: @PoliceNG_CRU Facebook: www.facebook.com/npfcomplaint | Email: complaint@npf.gov.ng OR npfcomplaint@gmail.com Website: www.npf.gov.ng/complaint.”
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