By Ifeanyi Okolie

Last week, the Zone 2 Command in Onikan, Lagos State, brainstormed on possible ways to transform policing within the zone into a more modern and democratized manner.

The one-week seminar at the Zone 2 headquarters was so tasking that at the end of it all, officers and men of the zone that participated were believed to have been equipped, intellectually and otherwise, on how to relate with the public in a much friendly and professional manner. They were also tasked to respect the civil rights of citizens within their states.

Speaking on the essence of the seminar, the Assistant Inspector -General of police in- charge of the zone, Suleiman Fakai, said modern policing had to develop along side with democratic processes. “Since that democratic governance had operated for 13 years, there are needs for the force to blend on the way to handle civil cases.

Officers and men of the zone are now expected to respect the rights of accused persons while investigating any case. They are now expected to allow an accused person to his lawyer during investigations”.

He also tasked officers of the command to shun the traditional way of policing where accused persons are hastily detained in a cell even when a prema-facie case has not been established against him.

This, he argued, are violations of the fundamental human rights of such people. “As an officer, you are expected to investigate any allegation leveled against any body before going for an arrest”, he stated.

A guest lecturer who is a retired police officer, Austen Abuleimen, advised the police officers to strictly embrace all the tenets of democracy and shun whatever that would tarnish the image of the force. The former officer in-charge of police legal department, Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos, warned against detention of suspects before investigation.

He said before a suspect should be detained, the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) should be able to know whether the suspect committed the act or that the allegation against him was false or frivolous stating that IPO’s should also adopt the idea of recording the confessional statements of suspects and also allow them the privilege of making statements in the presence of their lawyers.

He said the recording of confessional statements would enable the judge to know whether the suspect made the confession under duress or not.

In his own speech, Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Nicholas Daru was of the opinion that unless government changed the Police Order Act, the police would still be making mistakes.

He regretted that while the society was changing everyday, the force was still operating on the Police Order Act that was given by the colonial masters.

He advised government to also provide logistics and equipment for forensic department as there was no functional forensic and finger print department in Nigeria presently as found in the western world.

The Police boss also advised members of the public to assist the force in the areas of information as was done in the western world to enable the force fight crime to the barest minimum.

His Lagos State counterpart, Yakubu Alkali, advocated for a revolution from the stakeholders in the force by pressurizing the government to do something urgent in changing the Police Order Act to meet up with the challenges of the 21st century.

He begged professionals, both retired and serving, to team up and brainstorm on the way forward and how the force would meet up with the sophisticated ways and challenges of “our modern day democracy.”