DPOs, Area Commanders who do not pick calls should be sacked – AIG

The new Assistant Inspector General of Police(AIG), in charge of Zone
2, Onikan, Lagos State, has threatened that Divisional Police
Officers(DPOs) and Area Commanders who do not pick their calls, should
be sacked.
This was even as he revealed that police will partner with army and
others to verify and check any influx of Boko Haram into the states.
The AIG, Bala Abdulla Hassan, addressing journalists on Monday in his
office, said that phone numbers of senior police officers should be
available to members of the public, so that they could reach on time
in case they wanted to report crime or give information.
He added: “A DPO who don’t pick his calls, if not fit to be in that
position! All my Commissioners of Police, in Lagos and Ogun state,
including DPOs and Area Commanders should their phones open to members
of the public. They must always pick their calls. There’s soon going
to billboards for emergency numbers for the public to reach the
police. DPO’s should display their phones numbers at the station and
charge rooms. Members of the community should have access to the phone
numbers of the DPO in their area. Any DPO, who didn’t pick his call,
isn’t fit to be in that position!”
Rolling out his plans for Lagos and Ogun Police Commands, Hassan said
his tenure would witness improvement in crime control, stressing that
he was working in tandem with the Inspector General of Police, Solomon
Arase’s agenda and zero tolerance for corruption and corrupt officers.
Speaking further on Boko Haram, Hassan said: “We have detectives from
the Zonal Intelligence Bureau, who are in plainclothes, combing
different areas. We’ll reduce militants and people of questionable
characters coming into the states. We want members of the public to
report policemen who they see arresting people in commercial buses.
It’s unethical!”
According to him, the ‘Safer Highway,’ which was recently launched by
the IGP in different states, would ensure an end to accidental
discharge, since the policemen attached to the scheme, were expected
not to have contact with members of the public, in order to reduce
corruption.
Hassan added: “We want to improve community policing. The IGP said
response to it has started leading to reduction in crime. I shall also
sit down with my Commissioners of Police, to see ways to tackle
robbery in traffic jam and other crimes. But there are two ways we are
already using to tackle robbery in traffic. The visibility of
policemen on the highway and making sure that there is free traffic
flow.”
Speaking on pipeline vandalism and the recurring killing of policemen
by suspected vandals, Hassan said he hoped that members of the
community of such volatile areas would help the police. He maintained
that most of the vandals were part of the communities.
Stressing that he believed in the capabilities of the two
commissioners of police, Hassan said he was aiming to work with other
security agencies in order to check crime, including pipeline
vandalism. Hassan came from Zone 10, to Zone 2. Zone 10 comprises
Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara state commands.