By Longtong Ibrahim
Kaduna (Nigeria) – Reports of the 2016 second quarter of the Complaint Response Unit (CRU) of the Nigeria Police Force has sown a steady decline in number of cases of professional misconduct reported against officers of the Nigeria Police Force.
The report which was released on 18th July, 2016 in Abuja covering April, May, and June indicated that a total number of 906 complaints were received from across the federation which is less than the 1,054 complains received in the first quota of 2016 (January, February and March).
Lagos, FCT-Abuja, Rivers and Anambra State Police Commands account for over 50% of total complaints received (54.02%) while Jigawa, Yobe and Kebbi States Police Commands has no reported complaints within the period in review – Kebbi command maintaining a clean sheet with no case reported since the inception of the CRU in November, 2015.
Similarly, there was a steady decline in number of cases reported from 19 State Commands namely: Abia, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Delta, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Katsina, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Taraba, Ebonyi, Kogi, Nasarawa and Edo as well as FCT-Abuja Command compared to the number reported in the first quarter report.
It was also revealed that, out of the cases received, 799 were successfully resolved and closed; 35 cases were found to be false/unrelated, while 72 cases are still pending as investigation were still ongoing.
Commenting on the report, Assistant Commissioner of Police – CRU, Abayomi Shogunle, attributed the decline to an increasing compliance by Officers to professional best practices in the conduct of their duties.
While reiterating the determination of the unit to live up to it expectations, the report revealed that the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris via a circular directed all Police Commands/Formations nationwide to ensure that appropriate and timely actions are taken regarding all matters brought to their notice by the CRU.
On measures taken to ensure that Police operate within the acceptable standard, the report stated that, the Unit embarked on special monitoring of activities of Safer Highway Patrol teams as well as visitation of selected Police stations in the South-West, South-South, South-East and North-Central regions of the country. CRU Townhall meetings with citizens were also held in Enugu, Awka and Abakaliki in collaboration with stakeholders.
Equally, there was a sustained enlightenment regarding CRU activities across both electronic and print media during the period under review so as to raise awareness among Nigerians on the works of the Unit with emphasis on the “BAIL IS FREE” campaign.
It would be recalled that the Nigeria Police Force established the CRU to enable the Public who may not be satisfy with Police services reach the higher authority for resolution of their complaints and Justice.
Platforms to reach the CRU include: Calls Only: 0805 700 0001, 0805 700 0002; SMS and WhatsApp: 0805 700 0003; BBM: 58A2B5DE; Twitter: @PoliceNG_CRU; Facebook: www.facebook.com/npfcomplaint; Email: [email protected] OR [email protected]; Website: www.npf.gov.ng/complaint.