By Adelani Adepegba

The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has deployed the X-Squad to arrest and detain policemen, who extort members of the public before releasing suspects on bail.
He has equally directed all assistant inspectors-general of police and commissioners of police to immediately ensure that ‘bail is free’ stickers are pasted in the crime branch, statement room, charge room and other conspicuous locations in all police divisions, stations and outposts throughout the country.
Speaking at the inauguration of the ‘bail is free’ campaign in Niger State on Wednesday, Idris, who was represented by the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, stated that the police leadership was concerned about the issue of corruption in the force, especially the extortion of the public by policemen.
He said, “The Inspector-General of Police and management team pay special attention to issues of corruption allegations, most especially as it concerns bail of suspects in police custody.
“The IG has therefore directed the launch of ‘bail is free’ campaign in all the 36 states of the country and the FCT, starting today (Wednesday) from Niger State Police Command, ‘B’ Division in Minna.
“He has deployed an X-Squad to arrest and detain policemen who extort the public in order to release a suspect on bail.”
Meanwhile, the National Association of Nigerian Students has condemned the controversy between the IG and the Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy, Senator Isa Mi¬sau, saying the corruption allegations levelled against the former could erode public confidence in the force.
The factional NANS President, Haruna Kadiri, said the allegation was an indictment of the police which he described as dangerous and unhealthy for the nation and public security.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, the student leader noted that the allegation against the police leadership could impact negatively on the rank and file in the force and demoralise them, a development that would work to the advantage of criminals.
Kadiri said, “The senator said it was not an allegation against IGP as a person, but the entire police leadership across all levels.
“What this implies is that every former IG raked in N10bn every month during their stay in office; how substantive and realistic is this allegation?”

http://punchng.com/ig-raises-squad-to-tackle-money-for-bail-cops/

DPOs’ confessions: We run police stations on bribes and charity

Meagre allocations put police stations at the mercy of charity from communities and criminals, Temitayo Famutimi reports

For whoever wants to know why inefficiency is the lot of the Nigeria Police, the starting point may be to closely watch the state of things at police stations across the country. Apart from the poor physical state of many of them, they are largely run on charity.
By the way, how much should a police station, which ought to be always battle-ready in all ramifications, since security problems can arise any time, have in its coffer at every point in time? Well, investigations by our correspondent shows that some of the police stations in Nigeria get as low as N35,000 as allocation from the force headquarters per quarter.
This is the reason why in all the states of the federation, many police stations rely on philanthropic gestures from members of their host communities and proceeds of bribery to function effectively. And that is why inscriptions such as ‘Donated by Welders Association’, ‘Community Development Association’ are constant features on many items and facilities found in many police stations in the country.
From rehabilitation of buildings, to fuelling of patrol vans and generators that serve the stations, many Divisional Police Officers appear to have been turned into beggars of some sort.
Besides, Nigerians who have at one time or the other had a reason to report an incident at a police station are no longer new to the demands from the policeman on duty, asking them to part with sums between N500 and N1, 000 before their statement can be taken.
Even after taking such statements and there is a need to make an arrest of those reported, the policeman on duty asks the complainant to drop another N2, 000 to fuel the police patrol vehicle.
A cross section of DPOs who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity say the development poses a dilemma and, indeed, a threat to the operations of the security agents.
Besides, despite the Inspector-General of Police’s order outlawing police check-points on highways, policemen are still occasionally sighted at some strategic highways across the country, mounting roadblocks and extorting money from the motoring public.
The reasons why this development has continued to be a regular feature of policing in the country, according to men and senior officers of the police, is as a result of the paltry sum of money being allocated to run police stations.
They declare that many of them run the affairs of police stations from the proceeds of bribes collected by men who go on regular patrols as well as philanthropic gestures of members of the public.
But a new twist to this development is that criminals are joining other law abiding citizens to contribute to the running of police stations in the country.
A DPO serving in the Ogun State Police Command explains that depending on members of the public for effective policing is not only risky but also against the principles of policing. Describing the majority of such philanthropic gestures as a Greek gift, the senior police officer says experience has shown that many of these donors usually have skeletons in their cupboards.
Butressing his argument with what transpired in his area of jurisdiction, he explains that an hotelier who had taken up the responsibility of paying for the monthly subscription of the DSTV in the police station was, initially unknown to him, doing so as a cover for his child abuse activities in his hotel.
He says, “Unknown to us, this hotelier was engaging in commercial sexual exploitation of juveniles in the hotel. We were shocked to learn about this and initially it was very hard for us to take a decision due to the support he had been rendering to the police station.
“My men didn’t have the gut to take actions because they were unsure if they had the moral right to arrest a staunch supporter of the station. My men had to await my arrival at the station before a decision to raid the hotel had to be taken.
“Expectedly, the subscription for the DSTV stopped and, ever since, I foot the bill from my purse whenever I have enough money to spare.’’
Investigations by our correspondent reveal that police stations receive quarterly allocations from state commands, after the latter would have got reimbursements from the Force Headquarters, Abuja.
A senior police source at the Ogun State Police Command headquarters in Abeokuta also confided in our correspondent that the quarterly allocation the command receives from the Force Headquarters fluctuates between N450, 000 and N650, 000.
This amount, it was gathered, is meant for catering for the needs of the 46 police stations and the five area commands in the state for three months. The amount, it was learnt, is not distributed equally among the police stations as criteria such as the size of the police station and the crime wave in the station’s area of jurisdiction were being used to determine how much each station receives.
A Divisional Police Officer in the Command, who claims to be receiving one of the highest quarterly allocations, says his division receives between N35, 000 and N40, 000 every three months.
This amount, according to him, is meant to cover fuelling of patrol vehicles, generators, stationeries, communication, and other expenses incurred by the police station during the three-month period.
The DPO, who also pleads anonymity because he is not in a position to speak to the press, explains that the allocation for a typical quarter is not even enough to fuel the patrol vehicles in the station for three days, let alone covering the whole expenses for three months.
He says, “It is very difficult to run a police station as a DPO without your men engaging in corrupt practices. How do you run a police station without funds? To describe the allocations we get quarterly as inadequate is to say the least.

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Published by The Punch on Thu, 11 Jul 2013