…inaugurates NPF hospital at Mobile Police Base
…President Tinubu is committed to Police Welfare, says IG
…Nigerian Citizens can now report personnel, without going to social media
Juliana Francis
The Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun today in Lagos State, launched the Lagos State Police Command Complaint Response Unit (CRU) and the state-of-the-art hospital newly built inside of the 22PMF in Oduduwa, Ikeja, GRA, Lagos and he also urged police personnel in the state to shun extortion.
The CRU is a project initiated and executed by the leadership of the Lagos State Police Command in fulfilment of the IGP’s police-citizens accountability charge.
Egbetokun, while applauding the quick steps taken by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa in establishing the CRU, said that other Police Commands in the country were expected to replicate the same in their states.
According to IGP, the CRU “is not to witch-hunt any officers, but to provide police-citizens accountability, build confidence among members of the public, engender information sharing between the police and the citizens and also make the police to be transparent.”
He further stated: “We don’t want actions of the Police to be reported on social media, but to the CRU, Officers that will man the CRU will be of impeccable character. They will be trained and get to be trained overseas. I urged everyone to support these efforts and ensure that the CRU is established in their states. It is good for the Police and for the citizens.”
Speaking directly to the senior Police Officers present, including Divisional Police Officers, Egbetokun said: “All our actions are geared toward building trust of people and getting trust from them.
“No Police Force can succeed without support from the People. Our new policing is intelligence-based and technology-driven. We are ready to win the minds of the people. We are shifting to community policing, which entails taking into consideration each community, everything is about results.
“We must shun extortion, which is giving us a bad image. I used to tell police officers that God loves Policemen and always looking for a policeman to bless. I want to appeal to you (policemen) to look towards God’s blessings. If you do your work well, God will bless you.
“President Asiwaju Tinubu is committed to the welfare of the Police and he’s going to do everything to improve your (Police) welfare. We will get support from the government, but you must be professional in everything you do and be transparent. Once we can do all these, we will get the support we need.”
Owohunwa at the event, explained how he and his team worked, with support from some notable organisations and Nigerians to create the CRU.
He said: “In line with the provisions of Sections 131-133 of the Police Act, 2020 and in compliance with the directive of the IGP, therefore, I am proud to confirm that Lagos State Police Command has taken the lead in establishing the State Compliant Response Unit (SCRU) as a framework for promoting Police-Citizens’ accountability and as a centre for the receipt of complaints on police officers’ service inadequacies from the public, coordinate immediate response, facilitate the investigations and disciplinary processes where necessary, and render feedbacks to the citizens.
“I must clarify that this initiative is not meant in any manner to witch hunt our officers as they will also be duly protected, and their rights fully asserted if their dignity is also violated or false and malicious information passed against them by misguided members of the public in the line of their official engagements. The establishment of the centre is, for all intents and purposes, a fulfilment of statutory provisions that are intended to enhance police accountability and engender professional police service delivery, rather than witch hunt or unduly malign our dutiful officers.
“In addition to its ethical complaint functionality, the Lagos State Complaint Response Unit has applications for e-crime reporting which enables citizens to report crimes from the comfort of their homes or offices without necessarily coming physically to the Police Stations. The process is that the Lagos State SCRU model will act as a central criminal complaint clearing house which will electronically receive such complaints and process them to the relevant police Division, Department or Unit within the Command which will in turn contact the complainant to whom a reporting code would have been generated and issued, for investigative actions to commence.”
In attendance at the event are Human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, the immediate past president, Mr Olumide Akpata, The President of Women Arise, a human rights group fighting against abuse of women, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, Dr. Seyi Adetayo from Airtel, Mr, Kenneth Ofili of 9Mobile, among a host of others.
