By Rotimi FASAN
THE Nigeria Police have in the last few weeks been ‘test running’ the proposed uniform for their personnel. The camouflage uniform which was unveiled by the IG, M.D. Abubakar in the second week of March will, when and if it is finally approved, become one of a couple of uniforms to be used by members of the Police Force in their operations.

Apart from Mr. Abubakar, who has posed for the cameras in the new uniform, I am yet to see any police officer in the uniform. I won’t be surprised, though, if the new uniform is already being widely used by senior police officers in Abuja and other major cities or operational bases of the Police Force.

In unveiling the uniform to the public, the IG made it clear that the Police was open to comments and suggestions from Nigerians on the appropriateness or otherwise of the uniform. This is apparently a good way to go about it, for if the uniform would be worn by security men paid by Nigerian tax payers, it is only appropriate that the same tax payers have a say in its choice and, perhaps, design.

According to the IG, the new uniform is meant to be aesthetically better than, presumably the black garment, that police officers presently wear. It is equipped, they claim, with security features that will make it, in a way of speaking, difficult to ‘camouflage’. In other words, it has special features that should distinguish it from fake replicas by potential criminals and, may be one should say, poorly kitted officers used to buying their uniforms off open market stalls.

It is doubtful if an officer gets more than a single set of uniform when they get at all. More often than not, what members of the rank and file wear by way of uniform and footwear are cheap and poor stuffs bought in open markets. Above all, however, the new uniform will, the IG pronounced, confer respectability on police officers.

And this is the bit that got me wondering, for I imagine that the problem of image that our police personnel suffer from goes beyond their uniform. I shall return to this, but first to other matters.

It was not long ago that the Police introduced the present sky-blue-coloured shirt worn by their officers. When the uniform came into use, the impression was that it would be worn by all members of the Force, from junior to senior officers.

Like in the present case, however, it was the senior officers that started out using them, and these mostly in Abuja and other major cities. Even now, the use of that uniform is not widespread, restricted as it is, to mainly senior members of the Police. Perhaps now that the Police are planning to introduce a new uniform, they would share the old one to more of their personnel.

But it would appear that only senior officers enjoy the privilege of new uniforms which the Police always believe would make their officers better respected and appreciated.

This was what I alluded to earlier when I mentioned that apart from the IG, I’m yet to see junior police officers ‘testing’ the proposed uniform in public. It’s not very often that Nigerians see senior police officers in public.

It follows therefore that there would be little room for them to see and make useful comments on the uniform if those who use them have their offices in the inner walls of Louis Edet House and other such places where many Nigerians are not allowed access or simply don’t have any business visiting.

But what this may be pointing to really is the unspoken discrimination that goes on in many public establishments where senior officers take advantage of opportunities that are not extended to their subordinates. Those best placed to advertise the new uniform are the junior officers Nigerians encounter on a daily basis, not the IG, the CPs and other very senior officers.

The Police may never have the benefit of informed comments by Nigerians for as long as those who use the uniforms are not those the Police send out on everyday operations.

The other thing is that the camouflage uniform, except where it has very special devices that recommend it- camouflages are everywhere in the market, including the types used by military personnel. Even though the widespread use of camouflage uniforms by the general public is not peculiar to Nigeria, this has not reduced its popularity among security organisations, military, paramilitary or otherwise around the world.

Perhaps what separates the brand of camouflage uniforms that have become part of popular culture from those used by the military, at least abroad, are the special security features built into them. American Navy Seal Team Six, the highly trained killer machine that with clinical precision violated Pakistani air space and invaded Osama bin Ladin’s compound- the uniform used by this group of special force is, a recent report shows,  indeed a high-tech outfit. Uniforms of military forces like this are truly beyond the amateurish tailoring our police resort to.

The Police need a new and better image and their appearance could do with a lot of improvement. One notices the simple but respectable-looking badges that have been added to the uniforms of both military and paramilitary bodies, including the Police in recent times.

All this is good but the image problem of the Police extends beyond physical appearance. It is true that many of our police officers don’t project an inspiring image, looking grubby and worn as they often are, but they need psychological orientation even more.

To command the respect of Nigerians, they must behave more respectably and responsibly- not in the manner of licensed/armed thugs that extort money from citizens and shoot them for daring to ask questions.

Many of them had already been brutalised before joining the Force and would see no reason why they should be civil in their ways. They seek avenues to take advantage of the society and are never satisfied until they are exercising the powers conferred on them by the Constitution in the fashion of killer cops.

Was it not last month the IG ordered police officers off the streets and highways following increased cases of trigger-happy murders caused by police officers? What this invites, therefore, is a change of orientation which no quantity of new uniforms put on police officers can provide.

In their new uniforms, they would be no better than the biblical whitewashed sepulchres that look good outside but are inside full of all sorts of rot and filth. This new uniform cannot change a corrupt police officer into a respectable one as the hood does not make a monk.