The Commissioner of Police Kwara State Command, Lawan Ado, on Wednesday at the Police Headquarters Ilorin, read the riot act to all officers in his command over issues of misconduct and illegality reported by members of the public.
In a Press release issued to journalists by the commands Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ajayi Okasanmi on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, after a meeting with officers of the command and operatives of the F-SARS (SPECIAL ANTI-ROBBERY SQUAD), the CP gave strong warnings against all illegal acts engaged in by his officers saying “Enough is enough, the officers must either sit up or get booted out of the outfit.”
The CP said that warning came as a result of different misconducts attributed to the outfit in recent times, which has brought some level of disrepute to the image and the good name that the command has toiled so much to maintain over the years.
Some of these allegations highlighted by CP Lawan Ado includes extortion: Checking of telephone sets of citizens and laptops, labeling every young man seen in a car as being a yahoo boy, drunkenness especially while on duty and other acts described as misconduct and as such an offence against discipline which must stop forthwith, reiterating that, he would not hesitate to wield the big stick on any officer whose actions or inaction would drag the jealously guarded name of the Police in the mud.
Ado for the Umpteen time re-echoed the directive of the Inspector General of Police to the effect that, the ban on roadblocks on our high ways remains in force and that any police officer arrested for disobeying this directive will be severely dealt with.
However, the CP admonished the officers to be civil in all their dealings with the members of the public assuring all his law-abiding officers and men of the support and protection of the Police authority at all times adding that the Command would do everything within its powers to make their work easy.
He also reminded the officers that being members of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad does not in any way differentiate them from other policemen and as such must at all times abide by their rules of engagement, dress code and must be neatly turned out as they were not immune against sanctions.
He also reminded the officers that, a male police searching a female suspect is a misnomer, scrutinizing telephone handset belonging to accosted suspects and citizens by FSARS operatives, escorting suspects to the ATM machine to collect money, or forcing suspect to make electronic money transfer is robbery declaring further that any officer arrested doing any of the above will be dismissed and charged to court.
He told the officers that their welfare is a priority to the Police management adding that he recognizes that their job was not an easy one while he also admonished the good people of Kwara state to continue to support the team and volunteer information so as to enable the police to discharge its responsibility adequately.
