The rebirth of the relatively moribund Police Mobile Force (PMF), commonly known as MOPOL, would also see the police stepping up its role in combating kidnap, banditry and other criminal activity.
“The police’s fighting arm is back,” the Inspector-General remarked over the weekend.
Tunji Disu who moved round police barracks in Lagos, spoke exclusively to our correspondent after his duty, reports The Nation.
He pointed to the impact of armed organisations taking advantage of open borders to conduct their nefarious activities on the country.
To tackle banditry, abduction and other security challenges, the IGP said mobile policemen, especially those in the Northeast, had gone back to training after years of neglect that left the force ill-equipped to carry out its basic duty.
He said MOPOL was the fighting arm of the police trained to handle insurgency but had for years failed to perform the function due to lack of training, equipment and exposure to counter-insurgency tactics.
MOPOL was a mobile effective unit of the police, properly trained and well equipped in the past.
“Implementing it on any task brought sanity and success.
Tafa Balogun, a former IGP appointed in 2002 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was an officer of the Police Mobile Force. As IG he often donned the uniform of the PMF.
Disu noted the low morale of MOPOL throughout the years has visibly improved due to his fresh strategy to bring back the ancient glory of the squad.
He was confident they would efficiently play their expected part in the insurgent struggle.
He added experienced retired MOPOL soldiers were willingly returning to training camps to assist the trainers and transfer their skills to younger cops.
‘It demonstrates that they still love the profession and love Nigeria even in retirement,’ he added, adding that the gesture had brought him joy.
Disu claimed the PMF were taught to take on the most challenging, high-risk jobs and expressed confidence in their abilities to defeat banditry and insurgency.
Banditry and insurgency, the IGP stated, were not exclusive to Nigeria, but wider regional concerns.
He also noted that Nigeria’s comparative affluence was making it an appealing target for armed groups taking advantage of open borders.
Many West African cities had fallen to militants and bandits, Disu said, adding that Nigeria had managed to keep its ground thanks to ongoing military and police operations but at a heavy cost.
Disu said many police officers and other security operatives have died this year protecting the country’s territorial integrity, urging the public to see uniformed and plainclothes officers on the streets as people who are working and dying to protect their lives and property.
He also noted the request by the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa, for Nigeria to fence its borders, saying the move, coupled with aerial surveillance and other technology-driven monitoring, will improve the country’s security architecture.
The Nigerian military is almost over stretched on internal security duties.
Troops are in more than 30 states fighting insurgencies and banditries.
Good MOPOL will be a terrific addition to these efforts.
Community policing Central crime database Enforcement
Disu also talked on the need for a consolidated biometric and criminal database among security organisations.
He claimed police had already started filling one of them, after an upgrading of data-capturing devices, and that directions had been communicated to divisional police units worldwide.
Disu said the database, which would be shared with other security organisations, may also help employers check potential employees.
On the continuous selling of pre-registered SIM cards, which is typically used by kidnappers, Disu said the force was working with telecoms service providers on intelligence sharing and enforcement.
He said the cooperation was part of a wider idea of community policing, pushing Nigerians to regard sharing intelligence as a civic duty, rather than as something that did not affect them.
The life you save today may be your own. “Today we say the police are the community and the community is the police in 21st century policing.” Disu continued, “We are all in the business of saving lives and property.
Welfare still top priority for other levels
Disu, who has acquired the moniker “The Welfare IG” for his emphasis on welfare issues, cited his ascent through the ranks from Assistant Superintendent of Police as evidence of his appreciation of the challenges confronting police officers.
“I remember being a Divisional Police Officer who inherited a division without a sitting room and had to purchase plastic chairs, a table and a mattress with my own money,” he stated.
Disu also remembered that he had used his own PC as a TV before the workplace had been properly outfitted.
“If I was not comfortable as a DPO, just imagine what other ranks officers go through,” he remarked.
Disu said preparations were afoot to develop barracks, provide reasonable housing alternatives for officers and engage government on wage and pension evaluations.
He said a long awaited assessment of the police salary structure had been carried out and is awaiting presidential clearance.
Disu said: “Efforts are ongoing to provide uniforms and other necessary kits to the officers.
Two sides, zero tolerance for impunity
My administration had taken on indiscipline in the force, saying that Nigerians cannot expect a free pass to flout the law.
He said that errant policemen had been apprehended and the necessary measures taken, adding that such cases were publicised to give citizens the assurance that there would be no impunity within the ranks.
The IGP mentioned the Complaint Response Unit (CRU), the police’s public complaints desk, where a number of cases of wrongdoing filed by the public against officers have been handled.
He warned that Nigerians who violate the law including those who drive against traffic and commit other offences would not have their indiscretions pushed under the carpet.
“Jungle justice means murder”
Disu said jungle justice and mob violence were murder because victims were denied their right to trial.
“Anyone arrested in connection with the killings, even if they incited or recorded such incidents without intervening, will be charged with murder,” he said.
The IGP called to Nigerians to report crimes to the police and other security agencies for thorough investigation and assured that he was dedicated to rebuilding public trust.
Disu who asked parents to counsel their children against thuggery said Nigerians should allow the election process to take its natural course.
He said the police had showed professionalism in previous elections and the level will be maintained.
‘A police force Nigerians can have their own
My goal is to see Nigerians accepting the police as truly their own, in line with the ultimate aim of the reforms I have championed in my first six months in office’, Disu added.
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