All Area Commanders, Divisional Police Officers and Heads of Department of the Lagos State Police Command have been directed to work with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons to stamp out human trafficking.

The directive was given by Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal who said human trafficking was now on the increase and needed to be addressed.

Edgal gave the directive at a Training of Trainers Workshop on Mitigating Election Violence, Twenty-Nineteen General Election in Focus, organised by Nigeria Policing Program and Boundless Hands Africa Initiative.

He said the training was designed to train Senior officer’s who would go back to train the rank and file in their various units.

According to Edgal, the training became imperative as the twenty-nineteen general election is drawing closer by the days, and the need for the police to be abreast of mitigating of election violence.

He warned officers and men of the Command that none of them must be found wanting during the general elections, charging the officers and men to be neutral and professional during the elections.

Edgal advised his men to watch and listen to electoral officers posted to different units during elections, saying on election days, it is the presiding officer that determines what constitutes electoral offences.

According to him, the presiding officer is the boss at the polling unit, saying the police must take directive from such officer on whom to arrest if any electoral offences has been committed.

“Police should not take directive from members of the public while providing security on election days,” he said.

The police commissioner said all the Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers must take the knowledge gained from the train the trainers workshop to their men, warning that no issue should be taken for granted.

On her part, Titilayo Ogunbambi, of the Boundless Hands Africa Initiative, said they decided to partner Nigeria Police Programme for the workshop to prevent violence during elections.

Ogunbambi said such training would help to mitigate electoral violence, as the officers would be equipped before the election days.

One of the facilitators, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Patrick Atayero, spoke on strategies for mitigating electoral violence, pointing out areas the police should pay attention to during elections.

Atayero said the major challenges in elections were electoral violence and fraud, saying violence-free elections were crucial to free and fair conduct of polls.

All the Area Commanders, Divisional Police Officers, unit officers and squadron leaders participated in the workshop.