By Kingsley Omonobi

Abuja—Following their alleged inappropriate behaviours to members of the public, who they should be protecting and other professional misconduct, Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, has ordered the redeployment of all Divisional Police Officers, DPOs, in Delta State command.

Vanguard gathered that the IG was alerted to the misconduct of the officers by members of the public through the recently established NPF Complaints Response Unit, CRU, which is a multi-platform reporting mechanism through which citizens’ complaints, concerns and queries are addressed with dispatch.

Briefing newsmen on the occasion of the 100 days of the establishment of the CRU, yesterday, Force Public Relations Officer, Mrs Olabisi Kolawole, said: “Beyond the feedback of inappropriate behaviours by police officers, is the reassurance of police commitment to prompt, efficient and public oriented service delivery to the different segments of our society.”

She added that CRU should not be misconstrued as a demonization of police activities but a wakeup call to key into international best practices and reflect strongly, the change agenda and policing strategy of the IG.

On the successes recorded by the complaints unit within the period, the FPRO said: “CRU operations have led to disciplinary action against officers up to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police, while several officers have been redeployed from their duty posts including DPOs by the police command.”

Emphasizing that an Assistant Commissioner of Police was also being investigated, she said that if the officer was found wanting, he may face prosecution, adding that 16 others were facing disciplinary action for misconduct, while a traffic warden had been dismissed.

She said that majority of complaints received by the CRU through its multi-platforms were received from Lagos State with 424 cases, representing 33 per cent while Imo, Jigawa and Kebbi states had two each.

“The telephone is the most used medium with 1, 587 calls, Whatsapp-215 calls, sms – 70 messages, e-mails – 83, Twitter – 70, facebook – 33, while Blackberry and hardcopy petitions were five complaints each,” she added.