Henceforth
Nigerians have the rare opportunity to channel instances of malfeasance by
officers and men of the Nigeria police force or queries via phone lines, SMS, WhatsApp,
Blackberry Messenger (BBM), Emails, Facebook, Twitter and get feedback in real
time.
As
the trite saying goes - in every twelve, there’s a Judas, so it is with the
Nigeria Police and other organizations. The good news is that the Inspector
General of police, Mr. Solomon Arase, on 13th November, 2015,
launched an Information and Communication Technology compliant department
within the Nigeria Police, a Complaint Response Unit (CRU) it is called, where
queries, complaints and concerns about unprofessional conducts of errant or
unscrupulous officers and men of the Nigeria police can be channeled to, and be
rest assured of a response in real time. This multi-platform community based
complaint reporting mechanism promises to be interactive and will cut existent
red tape involved in reaching out to the top hierarchy of the Nigeria police to
report concerns or to obtain specific information from them.
The
Head of the Police Complaint Response Unit, CSP Yomi Shogunle says the CRU will
‘’bridge the gap between the police and citizens’’. According to Mr. Shogunle,
‘’every complaint will be assigned a computer generated tracking number,
acknowledged, verified, investigated by the Unit and feedback offered’’.
Kudos
to the Nigeria police for this innovation; Nigerians appreciate the onerous
task they are encumbered with. We urge them to play by the rules and be role
models. We earnestly hope the Complaint Response platform is sustainable and
does not end up as a public relations stunt, a paper-tiger.
Matters Arising, Recommendations:
At
the risk of pre-empting the workings of the Complaint Response Unit, we ask,
beyond encouraging the public to make complaints, the Nigerian public will
appreciate clarifications on what transpires where there’s a conflict of
interest, say a complaint is made against the boss of the Police Complaint
Response Unit, will it be ethical for him to superintend or adjudicate in a
matter where he is the accused? Certainly, the appropriate thing to do here is
to invite or channel the complaint to an independent ombudsman, possibly the
Police Service Commission (PSC) which is empowered to inter alia dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over police
officers and rank and file. It will also help if there are in-built processes for
anonymity or protect the identity of the complainant, weeding out frivolous
complaints and quick dispensation of justice given that justice delayed is
justice denied.
In
the spirit of repositioning the Nigeria Police to meet the challenges of the 21st
century, it will do a lot of good if the Inspector General of police, all
DIG’s, AIG’s, state commissioners of police and other senior police officers
are ICT and social media savvy. Firstly, open-source intelligence abound in the
Social media and cyber world and can be gleaned with minimal effort. In January
2014, Social media played a critical role to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
in arresting one William Holt, a wanted criminal. Secondly, social media is
increasingly popular and faster for information dissemination and will cut off
bottlenecks in reaching top hierarchy. One recalls former IGP Mohammed Abubakar
publicly made available, a phone number to reach him. More often than not when
innocent folks are detained and extorted on trumped up charges in a Police
Command the DPO’s, CPs, are seldom aware of such. A Tweet to the DPO, CP would
have exposed the goings-on, rot under his nose and saved the situation. A few
classic scenarios: there’s this dude that operates a drugstore (Chemist as we
call them) in my area. Policemen from a particular police division routinely
raid him and eateries in that vicinity and extort money from them. Folks are
released immediately they ‘settle’ and
the cops come again after four months or so. Dudes are helpless because they
don’t even know who to complain to. One won’t have misgivings if these cops are
attached to or come with NAFDAC (National Agency for Food, Drug Administration
and Control) but they come on their own. Wondering if it is now the
responsibility of the police to regulate drugstores, eateries in Nigeria?
Another example, someone was allegedly murdered in my village a while ago and
that incident became a cash cow for the police command in that area.
Indiscriminate arrest was the order of the day. As we say in Nigerian parlance,
I no follow na N10,000 or more. Nigerians are told bail is free but this is a fallacy
in reality. Please it is high time the Nigeria Police Code of Conduct is also
re-launched with ongoing awareness and vigorous enforcement.
Since
the critical goal of the Complaint Response initiative is to discourage
unethical conduct and by extension punish culpable personnel, it follows that
prevention is better than cure. We recommend that the police proactively weeds
out bad eggs even from the point of recruitment into the force by carrying out
stringent background checks on prospective enlistees into the police.
Establishing a nation-wide computerized
national crime database accessible in real time will help in this regard.
Similarly, the police hierarchy must ensure that excellence, passion for the
job is not sacrificed in the altar of godfatherism, cronyism during
recruitment. Please while you are at it, with due respect, we implore the
Nigeria police to overhaul the internal weapon handling system of the police.
The current system where there are no stringent checks and balances as regards
to custody of weapons is not fit for purpose and subject to abuse. It is an
anomaly for police officers, men attached to private and commercial premises to
go home with their weapons. No wonder there are allegations of criminals
‘renting’ weapons from unscrupulous police officers/men. A very robust weapon
chain of custody will check the aforementioned tendency.
In
the light of this, we call the federal government and the National Assembly to
take a step further and bring about a Whistleblowers Protection Act, law that
will protect insiders who opt to report misconduct, corruption within the
police or any other organization. Such an Act will go a long way in fighting
entrenched corruption, malfeasance beyond public view.
See Something, Say Something, Do
Something!!!
We
urge Nigerians not to keep mute or look the other way when they witness an
anomaly in the society or when their fundamental human right, that of their
neighbor is trampled upon by uniform personnel or any individual no matter how
highly placed. God will not physically descend from heaven to instill decorum
and perfection in our polity or sort out issues we can do ourselves. Don’t say e no concern me, it certainly does
either directly or indirectly! Rather than being docile, feeling helpless,
trolling and whining how Nigeria, the system is not working or how the Nigeria
Police and its personnel are corrupt and unprofessional, you now have a choice,
a platform to walk the talk, make a positive impact and change the status quo.
Let’s inculcate the culture of holding public officers accountable and
responsible. Be the change you want and make your voice heard. As you know, an
average camera phone, video pen recorders are veritable tools to record
evidence but you must do it discreetly.
Before
I unveil the contact details of the Nigeria Police Complaint Response Unit
(CRU), please permit me to reconcile the objective of the Police CRU with a
couple of scenarios and global best practices. In 2007, the then United Kingdom
Home Office minister (equivalent to the minister of interior in Nigeria), one
Liam Byrne was stopped, charged to court and fined £100 for talking on a mobile
phone while driving. He also earned three penalty points on his driver’s
license and subsequently apologized for his action. Still in the United
Kingdom, Hampshire Police Authority pleaded guilty and was fined after one of
its vehicles was caught speeding at 48mph in a 30mph zone. Can this happen in
Nigeria? Your guess is as good as mine. Well, it can happen in Nigeria
henceforth if you and I want it to happen. Let’s join hands and make Nigeria
great again. We can do it, yes we can!
If
you have a grouse, prima facie or substantiated unethical actions of any police
officer, be it: illegal arrest and detention, bribery, abuse of authority,
demand for sexual favours in exchange for leniency, corruption, extortion,
brutality, torture, extra-judicial killing, harassment amongst others, or you
need specific information from them, here are 24/7 platforms you can use to do
that:
1.
Twitter: @PoliceNG_CRU
2.
BBM: 58A2B5DE
4.
WhatsApp: 08057000003
5.
SMS Only: 08057000003
6.
Calls Only: 08057000001 or 08057000002
7.
Facebook: facebook.com/npfcomplaint
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Written
By:
© Don Okereke
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Follow Don on twitter: @DonOkereke
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Bio:
Don Okereke is a passionate, innovative, Information Technology, Social
Media-Savvy and proven Security Analyst/Consultant, researcher, writer/blogger,
and change agent with over 17 years combined Military (Air Force), Private
Security, entrepreneurial, skills/experience distilled from Nigeria and the United
Kingdom. His interest and expertise span Security/Safety/ICT/Cultural Awareness
Training, Threat/Travel Advisory, Risk Assessments & mitigation, Security
survey/mapping, Loss/Fraud Prevention, Due Diligence and Investigations, Executive/Asset Protection, Business
Continuity & Emergency Planning, Background Screening/Vetting, Competitive Intelligence, Research and Open-Source
Intelligence (OSINT) Information Retrieval, Countering Violent Extremism
Advocacy and Public Speaking, amongst others. Don has featured on
conferences/seminars as a Guest Speaker and he is routinely consulted by
foreign, local, print/electronic organizations for expert opinion on issues
impinging national, personal security and geopolitics. His passion, knack for
writing has seen his articles published on major Nigerian newspapers such The
Guardian, The Nation, NewsWatch, Tell Magazine and various online and social
media platforms.
November, 2015
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