By SUNDAY EHINDERO, IGP (Rtd.)

Continued from last week

The three Rules under this Principles are that Police Officers shall;

•carry out their duties with integrity, fairness and impartiality;

•take no action knowing that it will violate the constitutional rights of any person;

•obey lawful orders, but must refuse to obey orders that are manifestly unlawful.

Principle Three provides that ‘Police Officers shall perform their duties and apply the law impartially and without prejudice or discrimination.’ The Rules are that Police Officers shall;

•provide every person in our society  with professional, effective and efficient law enforcement services;

•not allow their law enforcement decisions to be influenced by race, religion, or any other sentiment whatsoever.

Principle Four stipulates that ‘Police Officers shall not, whether on or off duty, exhibit any conduct which discredit themselves or the Force or otherwise impairs their ability or that of other Officers of the Force to provide law enforcement services to the community.’

The Rules are that Police Officers shall;

•not consume alcoholic beverages or intoxicating substances while on duty, except as permitted in the performance of official duties, and under no circumstances while in uniform, except as otherwise exclusively permitted by an enabling authority;

•not consume alcoholic beverages to the extent the Officer would be rendered unfit for the Officer’s next scheduled shift. A Police Officer shall not report with the odour of an alcoholic beverage on the Officer’s breath;

•not commit any act which constitutes sexual assault or indecent exposure. Sexual assault does not include a frisk or other search done in accordance with the proper Police procedures;

•avoid regular personal associations with persons who are known to engage in criminal activity where such associations will undermine the public trust and confidence in the Officer or in the force.

Principle Five provides that ‘Police Officers shall treat all members of the public courteously and with respect.’

Rules

•Police Officers shall exercise reasonable courtesy in their dealings with the public, fellow Officers, superiors and subordinates;

•No Officer shall ridicule, mock, deride, taunt, belittle, willfully embarrass, humiliate, or shame any person or do anything reasonably calculated to incite a person to violence;

•Police Officers shall promptly advise any inquiring citizen of the Department’s complaint procedure, and shall follow the established Department policy for processing complaints.

Principle Six provides that ‘ Police Officer shall not compromise their integrity nor that of the Force, by accepting, giving or soliciting any gratuity which could be reasonably interpreted as capable of influencing their official acts or judgments, or by using their status as Police Officers for personal, commercial, or political gain.’

Rules are that Police Officers shall;

•not use their official positions, identity cards: (1) for personal or financial gain, for themselves or another person; (2) for obtaining privileges not otherwise available to them except in the performance of duty; and (3) for avoiding consequences of unlawful or prohibited actions;

•not lend to another person their identification card or badges or   permit these items to be photographed or reproduced without approval of the Inspector General of Police except as required by Supervising Government Ministries or for recognized public services;

•refuse favours or gratuities which could be reasonably interpreted as capable of influencing acts or judgments.

•not authorise the use of their names, photographs or titles in a manner that identifies the Officer as an employee of the Force in connection with advertisements for any product, commodity or commercial enterprise;

•maintain a neutral position with regard to the merits of any labour dispute, political protest or other public demonstration while acting in an official capacity; nor make endorsements of political candidates, while on duty, or in official uniform, nor in their private capacities, while remaining in the service of the Force.

Principle Seven provides that ‘Police Officers shall not compromise their integrity, nor that of the Force, by taking or attempting to influence actions when a conflict of interest exists.’

Rules are that Police Officers shall;

•unless required by law or policy, refrain from becoming involved in official matters, or influencing actions of other Police Officers in official matters, impacting the Officer’s immediate family, relatives or persons with whom the Officer has or has had a significant personal relationship;

•unless required by law or policy, refrain from acting or influencing official actions of other Police Officers in official matters impacting person with whom the Officer has or has not had a private relationship;

•not use the authority of their position as Police Officers, or information available to them due to their status as Police Officers, for any purpose for personal gain including, but not limited to, initiating or furthering personal and/or intimate interactions of any kind with person with whom the Officer has had contact while on duty;

•    not engage in any off duty employment if the position compromises or would reasonably tend to compromise the officer’s ability to impartially perform the Officer’s official duties.

Principle Eight provides that Officers shall observe the confidentiality of information available to them due to their status as Police Officers.

Rules are that Police Officers shall not;

•knowingly violate any legal restriction for the release or dissemination of information;

•except in the course of official duties or as required by law, publicly disclose information likely to endanger or embarrass victims, witnesses or complainants;

•divulge the identity of persons giving confidential information except as required by law or Force policy.

The Way Forward

I commend M.D. Abubakar for giving the Nigeria Police Force a Code of Conduct. Laudable as this effort is, the new Code is be-devilled with the problem of enforceability.