DPA GUIDE ON WHAT TO DO IF YOU ENCOUNTER NIGERIAN POLICE AND THEY MAKE TO ARREST YOU
By Emeka Ugwuonye

If you encounter the the police and they try to arrest you in circumstances where you know they are wrong, first politely greet the officer or officers. Please answer their question in a cooperative manner. If they insist that they would take you to their station, gently tell the officer or officers that you have not committed any crime to warrant the arrest and that you should be allowed to go. If they further insist, then prepare to follow them to their station. But at that time, make sure you let people know what is happening.


If taken to their station, while they still have you at the counter area, make sure your people (preferable an educated adult in your family) know what station you have been taken to. Once you give out that information in clear and unambiguous manner, turn off your phone and calm down. Also, if you could, let your people know the name of the police officer that arrested you.

It is important you give out this information early. Remember that when they ask you to make a written statement, they may try to force you to write what they like to be what happened, and not what actually happened. And naturally, you will resist. That will escalate the tension and lead to hostility or violence toward you. At that point, they will not allow you to use your phone any more. What they are doing at that point is called the process of isolation. You may not yet be in the cell, but by taking away your phone from you, they have isolated you from the world. So, make sure that by this time, an informed person in your family or at the DPA call center (to be announced) knows where you are and what is happening.

Please try not to argue with the police. Anywhere in the world, that makes them mad. In Nigeria, that could lead to disastrous consequences and possibly a deadly outcome. This does not mean that you should not tell the police officer that you do not agree with him. But do it in a manner that is least confrontational. Just do it in a way that is meant to let him know you know your rights and that you are a responsible and well informed person. If he insists, then stop arguing with him.

You have to remember that the Nigerian police do not require their new recruits to undergo psychiatric evaluation before employing them and giving them guns. So, it is reasonable to expect that the police officer talking to you may have serious mental health problem that might predispose him to the use of deadly violence. So, assume that the man in that black uniform standing in front of you is insane, armed and dangerous, but with authority. (He is not a robber, he is a police officer, even if he is acting like a robber) So, try to calm down and control the situation to the best of your ability.

If information could get to DPA before you start making any statement at the station, you will be alright. We shall step in and control the process and prevent the situation from escalating in the wrong direction.
From our investigation, one of the escalation points in your meeting with the Nigerian police is that point where they ask you to make a written statement in their station. In many cases, taking you to their station means that you did not give them the money they asked of you in the street where they met you. So, they are not happy with you. Bear that in mind. (You are perceived to be stubborn). It is likely that you have been arrested improperly and in...http://www.controversialada.com/2016/04/what-to-do-if-police-arrest-you.html

Good

What/who is DPA?

Buhari should do something about the police force.They are worse than criminals in some respect

tobimillar:
What/who is DPA?

It is Due Process Advocate. Search for it via Facebook and learn more. You can benefit from their costless services.