THE acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has taken far reaching steps to clean up the Nigeria Police Force.
He has ordered the re-organisation of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS.
He has also set up what he called Special Election Investigation Team, SEIT, ahead of the general elections.
According to the I-G, the body would be tasked with the “exclusive functions of taking in custody and undertaking detailed investigation of all arrested electoral offenders across the country.”
Adamu also disbanded all quasi-investigation and operations outfit including the Special Investigation Panel, SIP, and Special Tactical Squad, STS or any other such teams under whatever name.
The decisions were disclosed by the I-G during his maiden meeting with Commissioners of Police, CPs and officers above, on Monday, at the Force Headquarters, Abuja.
Under the reorganisation measures, he said, the SARS which was hitherto, centralised at the Force Headquarters, had been decentralised, urging the Commissioners of Police in each of the 36 police command and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, to assume full command and control authority on all SARS in their commands, adding that the Force Headquarters’ unit of SARS was now “subsumed under the command of the DIG Force Criminal Intelligence Investigation Department, FCIID. The import of this is that the DIG FCIID and command CPs shall from this date, not only assume administrative and operational control of SARS in their respective commands, they shall also be held liable for any professional misconducts resulting from the operations of the unit in their commands,” he said.
Adamu added “Similarly, all quasi-investigation and operations outfits including the Special Investigation Panel, SIP and Special Tactical Squad, STS or any other such teams under whatever name are hereby disbanded.”
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The DIG FCIID is to take over and review all cases that such teams are currently handling as well as official assets on charge of them and submit a detailed report to my office within two weeks. “Similarly, comprehensive reorganisation will be undertaken in the investigative, intelligence and special operations arms of the Force comprising of the Police Mobile Force, Counterterrorism Unit and the Special Protection Unit,” he added.
He explained that “this re-positioning process will eventually cascade down to the zonal and state command levels,” adding, “the essence is to restore order and apply a break to the current slide in policing standards, discourage the proliferation of multiplicity of outfits competing for operational space in the most unprofessional manner.” We shall enhance the capacity of the Force towards situating our operations within the principles and practice of intelligence-led policing and human rights standards and align our operations to modern dynamics,” the I-G said.
Adamu added that to achieve his aim of repositioning the police,” a comprehensive reform both in terms of ethics, mode of operation, nomenclature and orientation, function delineation, command and control, weaponry and accountability mechanism will be undertaken in SARS. This is with a view to full, clear, measurable and accountable intervention to the presidential directives on reform orientation of the unit as recently handed down to the Force leadership. A reorganisation proposal to this effect is being currently studied preparatory to its being implemented,” he said.
He explained that the meeting was held with the commissioners to ” galvanise their personnel and mobilise logistics towards ensuring a peaceful and credible outcome of the general elections.”