Lagos tops in Nigerians complaints against police

…as police return owner N560, 000:00 after 3 years

The Public Compliant Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU), in the first quarter of 2017 i.e. January to March, has revealed that the Lagos State Police Command received the highest complaint against police personnel across federation.

This was even as the report states that complaint against police was on the decline.

This is contained in the first quarter of 2017 report, January to March, of PCRRU, released yesterday in Abuja, signed by ACP Abayomi Shogunle, in charge of PCRRU.

The report shows that Lagos State Police Command top in number of complaints against its police officers with 90 cases representing 18.07%, followed by FCT Abuja 69 cases, 13.86% and Rivers State 59 cases, 11.85%.

Kwara and Ekiti Police Commands recorded no case during the period while Sokoto, Kebbi, Jigawa, Cross River and Bauchi Police Commands recorded one case each. Kebbi state Command recorded its first case since the inception of the unit in 2015.

The report states that the unit received a total number of 498 cases from across the country against police officers in Nigeria.

The report showed a 52.8% decrease in number of cases of misconduct reported against Nigerian police officers in 2017 Q1 (498 cases) compared to 2016 Q1 (1,054 cases).

Shogunle stated that telephone call topped the means by which members of the public interacted most with the Unit as 362 cases which are 73% of total cases reported were received through telephone calls.

He said: “However, over 10,000 phone calls were received from the public during the period under review, but only 362 phone calls relating to the mandate of the Unit were processed. The report also attributed the successes recorded so far by the Unit to the support of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris. One of the complaints resolved by the Unit included that of a man whom police in Nyanya Division, FCT Abuja Command helped recovered the sum of N560, 000.00 in a case in June 2014 but had difficulty in claiming same since then. The said man (names withheld) got his money handed over to him in March, 2017 after reporting the issue to the Unit.”

The report also revealed that two separate cases of serious misconduct forwarded by the National Human Rights Commission, Abuja in respect of alleged illegal detention in Delta state and anther alleged extortion along Airport Road, Port-Harcourt, Rivers states were referred to the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (Force CIID) Abuja for detailed investigations and further necessary action.

The report advised the public to take advantage of the unit to get their cases against police resolved and justice when not satisfied with any Police action rather than resorting to self-help.

Shogunle further said: “''Members of the Public are advised not to take to self-help when they are not satisfied with an encounter with any police officer(s), but should contact the PCRRU which is available24/7 for resolution of cases of misconduct and other required actions. Such self-help by citizens had sometimes escalated the situations and resulted in severe injuries to such person(s) or innocent bystanders; deaths have been recorded in some of such controversial incidents.”