Acting Inspector-General of police, Kayode Egbetokun has inaugurated the first Complaints Response Units, CRU, in the Police Command Ikeja, Lagos.

Egbetokun said the purpose of the unit was to create a conducive platform of interaction between the police and public, particularly on unprofessional conducts of the officers.

According to him, the unit will afford the public an opportunity to make complaints and seek redress as individuals and groups against police misconducts and human rights abuses.

Egbetokun, who commended the command for complying with his directive, pointed out that the directive was from Section 131 of the police Act of 2020, which gave power to the IGP to establish such unit in all states.

He noted that the unit was not established to witch-hunt any police officer but to promote accountability in the police, saying it is going to enhance police-community collaboration and build confidence with the public.

Egbetokun appealed to the public to supply the police with information, stressing that the police would also show transparency so as to get cooperation from the public.

In his words, the public should desist from reporting police misconduct on social media, saying officers who are going to man the unit are going to be carefully selected, they are going to be officers with impeccable integrity.

The Police Chief said they will be trained and be given regular training, including opportunity for overseas training, saying if the police is able to deliver on their constitutional mandate, they will all benefit from it.

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, said the command had taken the lead to establish the state Complaints Response Units as a framework for promoting Police-Citizens’ accountability.

Owohunwa said their rights will be fully asserted, if their dignity is also violated or false and malicious information passed against them by misguided public in the line of their official engagements.

He said the establishment of the center is, from all intents and purposes, a fulfilment of statutory provisions that is intended to enhance police accountability and engender professional police service delivery, rather than witch-hunt or unduly malign our dutiful officers.

According to him, the unit had applications for e-crime reporting, which enabled citizens to report crimes from the comfort of their homes or offices without necessarily coming physically to the police stations.

In his words, the internal security space in recent times, had been laced with threats of cultism, armed robbery, kidnapping, murder and Sexual and Gender Based Violence.

Owohunwa said the command are also constantly confronted with the challenge of dissecting and dealing with the thin line between the civil and criminal dynamics of land disputes which are also prevalent in the state.

According to him, also of routine concern is the traffic gridlock and the attendant occasional traffic robberies, which are compounded by on-going road projects across the state including, in particular, the Lagos-Ibadan highway.

In his words, hardly does a day pass by without the ever vigilant operatives of the command recovering weapons and illicit drugs of various descriptions at stop and search points, raids of black spots, and other operational engagements.

He said the command need more support toward optimally advancing the attainment of policing mandate to Lagos residents.

Owohunwa said crime profile of the state was further accentuated by the prevalence of illegal firearms proliferation, and illicit drug abuse and trafficking.

He also said the crime profile of the state was further accentuated by the prevalence of illegal firearms proliferation and drug abuse and trafficking.

The most worrisome in Lagos State is a noticeable trend that indicates an increasing local expertise in the fabrication of various types of firearms, including replicas of foreign-made pistols, AK47 and other assault rifles.

This trend, coupled with the threat of cultism, projects a potent danger to the security space of the state, if nothing drastic is done by all strategic state actors and the citizens to complement the efforts of the police in rolling back the dangerous tide before it gets out of hand,” he said.

The Police Commissioner said in addressing the prevalence of sexual and gender based violence, the command was working in partnership with the Office of the wife of Lagos state governor to establish a purpose-built Centre for the Command’s Gender Unit.

He also stated that “this is the standard Lagos State deserves. This, sir, is the standard we are striving to integrate into policing functions in Lagos.

“The Lagos State Complaint Response Unit, which is an ultramodern and full-fledged Call centre, will be under the supervision of the Command’s Public Relations Officer as prescribed in the Police Act 2020.

It will be active twenty-four (24) hours a day and seven (7) days a week and citizens can interface with operators who will run shift duties on nine (9) different dedicated phone lines. ”

CP Owohunwa The services of the Unit can also be accessed in real-time via WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Weblink, Instagram, and e-mail, and all the officers to man the centre have been exposed to weeks of specialised training and practical exposure with the support of our technical and corporate partners.”

On his part, Lagos Based Human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana, said police officers have no cause to fear, as he would also defend them pro bono if they are reported for frivolous reasons.

Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, warned police officers that torture has become a serious issue now, especially where a suspect dies in police custody in the course of investigation.

According to him, officers involved in torture would be charged for murder, but, if the suspect survives, such policemen would be liable to 25 years imprisonment.

He said, soon, chief magistrates would visit all police stations in Nigeria and such magistrates would be empowered by the law to grant detained suspects bail.

He said, “Section 6 of the Police Act says every police station shall have a lawyer assigned to it to monitor human rights complaints. I want to assure all police officers that anybody who files complaints against them on unlawful acts, I will be there to defend you pro bono. I also want to thank the IGP for obeying court orders on cases won by some police in various courts.”

Also, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Apata, promised to replicate the same feat in Edo and Delta States, while Founder, Women Arise for Change Initiative, Dr. Josephine Okei-Odumakin, promised to support the initiative.

SCRU is a framework for promoting police-citizen accountability, and a centre for the receipt of complaints on police officers’ inadequacies, coordinate immediate response, facilitate investigations and disciplinary processes where necessary, and render feedback to citizens.