The Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Solomon Arase, has reiterated that he won’t tolerate issues of police misconduct and human rights abuses against members of the general public.
Arase, a former Inspector General of Police (IGP) made the assertion, on Wednesday in Abuja, when he was being hosted by Peter Gad, Executive Director of Cleen Foundation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the foundation is a nonprofit organisation that promotes public safety, security, and access to justice in partnership with government, civil society and other private sector organisations.
Arase said that he was allergic to corruption and all other factors that could taint the image of the police before the public and was ready to change the narrative about the force.
“I will not tolerate any issues of misconduct or human rights abuses. We have seen officers recently paying the prices of misconduct” he said.
“The commission has set up a parallel complaint response unit to engage and monitor the activities of the police on a weekly basis.
“It will help to assess the police force, especially in their conducts, which is a step to reactivating a vibrant police system.
“Where we monitor and find out that the police has erred in a context, there is nothing wrong for them to say they are sorry to the public because it happens everywhere in the world,” he said.
Arase said that the commission would strive to curtail the culture of excesses by engaging the police and the public.
The PSC Chairman said that he would ensure that the tainted image of the police was changed and that officers welfare were commensurate to the task of the job.
Arase further said that he would ensure that scholarships were given to children of officers slain on duty while officers due for promotion were promoted and exposed to trainings using international policing modules.
“I love this job and I’m passionate about the men and their welfare and I will ensure that they get the best from the government and they give the best to the public.
“I’ll do everything about their welfare, I’ll make sure they are promoted when they need to be promoted and I’ll make sure I expose them to customized trainings where the training will be quality both internally and overseas.
“This is because the system is becoming knowledge-based and the more knowledgeable the men are, the more they will be able to deal with issues intellectually,” he said.
According to him, many police officers were leaving the system without transferring capacity and knowledge they acquired to their younger colleagues.
Arase said that the commission would ensure that knowledge and capacity were transferred and replicated and no gaps were left in the system.
He commended cleen foundation for its commitment in providing technical support to the police, especially in areas of capacity building, trainings and retraining.
The PSC Chairman said that the commission was ready to work with the foundation to ensure that international best policing strategies were attained and sustained in the country.
Earlier, Peter congratulated the PSC Chairman on his appointment and also assured him of the NGOs unwavering support.
Peter said that the group would continue to engage with the police and provide all technical support needed to reposition the police force and ensure that it delivered on its mandate to the public.
He presented some policing research materials that would guide police operations in the future and also called for the recognition of outstanding police officers to serve as an example that the police still had honorable men.
“We have seen officer who have conducted themself poorly in the public and have paid the price for their conducts and that is laudable because it will serve as a deterrent to others.
“There are men who are serving and carrying out their duties diligently in the system, men who understand the role of the police to the public and are giving their best.
“Those officer need to be recognised and possibly rewarded to showcase the police in a positive light to the public,” he said.