In compliance with the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, NPM, mni, on checkmating the excesses and sanitizing the Special Anti Robbery Squad and other tactical squads, as contained in the press statement issued by the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba numbered CZ: 5300/FPRD/FHQ/ABJ/VOL. 3/25 dated 4th October, 2020, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu, has vowed to arrest, dismiss and prosecute any erring police officers and men who disobey the directives in Lagos State.
The Commissioner of Police re-echoed the IGP’s directive in his Ikeja office on Sunday 4th October, 2020, and ordered his monitoring teams to go after, arrest and prosecute any personnel of police tactical squads, including Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad(FSARS), SARS, Special Tactical Squad (STS), Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Anti Kidnapping, Anti Cultism, or Anti Robbery teams or under any nomenclature from Lagos command or any formations within Lagos State, engaging in Stop and Search and any other low-risk operations like patrol; and operating on mufti, against the directives of the Inspector-General of Police.
CP Hakeem Odumosu reinstated that any police officer who wants to embark on patrol, Stop and Search, checking of information etc must be on official police uniform with identification cards conspicuously hanged on his or her chest.
He further ordered that the Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers in Lagos State must discourage and kick against the use of commercial buses or unbranded vehicles for such operations, except on surveillance or decoy, which must be approved personally by the Commisioner of Police.
The police chief also vowed to hold any Area commander and Divisional Police Officer where police harassment, brutality or extortion occurs, vicariously accountable and shall accordingly be disciplined.
While encouraging members of the public to report any ugly and unprofessional conducts of the police to the command via the Public Complaint Bureau phone digits: 09057597931, 09010512350, 09010512348 and 09090003792, he affirmed his commitment to sanitize policing system in Lagos Command and achieve people-oriented Nigeria Police Force in Nigeria.
