The Acting Inspector General of
Police, Mohammed Adamu, says the police are in the process of acquiring and
deploying less lethal weaponry during operations.
Adamu made this known on Thursday
in Osogbo at the inauguration of a Zonal Security Stakeholders’ Forum, a
community policing concept for the Police Zone XI comprising Ondo, Osun and
Oyo.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
reports that the forum was aimed at galvanising the people of the three states
towards identifying and partnering with the police to address peculiar security
challenges.
The IGP, who was represented by
the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Taiwo Lakanu, said he had commenced the
process of addressing factors that engender conflict and distrust between the
citizens and the police, particularly issues bordering on misuse of firearms
and sundry abuses of police powers.
“Toward this end, we are in the
process of migrating from total dependence on lethal weaponry as first line of
police operations toward acquiring and deploying less lethal weaponry such as
taser or stun guns.
“Under the new policy, personnel
on low-risk policing duties like routine patrols, arrest duties, and civil
disorder management will be armed with taser guns or stun guns as a strategic
approach toward reducing incidents of fatalities associated with misapplication
of lethal weapons by the police when faced with low level threats,’’ he said.
He also ordered that the shift
duty structure of the Nigeria Police, which is currently a 12-hour, two -shift
system should be reverted to the traditional eight-hours, three-shifts shift
standard.
Adamu said the medical service of
the police had also been directed to introduce emotional intelligence, stress
management and cognitive therapy toward enhancing the psychological and
emotional stability of all police personnel while on duty.
He said all these initiatives
were directed at closing the trust gap between the police and the citizens as
well as create a conducive condition for partnership between them.
Adamu commended the foresight,
professional depth and sense of commitment to duty of AIG Adeleye Oyebade, the
Assistant Inspector General of Police in-charge of Zone XI, Osogbo, for
conceptualising and driving the process of inaugurating the stakeholders’
forum.
He said he had initiated actions
toward inaugurating a Nigeria Police Community Policing Implementation Standing
Committee.
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Nigeria Police Force need weapons that can never kill their opponents. The Police should not determine the life and death of anybody. The national law courts should have the power to handle any criminal matter.
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