COVID 19: CHALLENGES OF EFFECTIVE POLICING

TSEAA, ARMSTRONG JOSHUA AONDOHEMBA

A PEACE & SECURITY COMMUNICATION EXPERT

SMS only to: +234 (0) 810-9233-946

In the Criminal Justice System and administration, the Nigeria Police is unarguably, the entry point. Though, through state legislations and acts of the National Assembly, some agencies, commissions can also contribute via arrest of offenders and cause same to be charge to courts as law enforcement agencies.

With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, law enforcement agencies in Nigeria have herculean tasks of ideally ascertaining the status of suspects before even taking the decision to make arrests. Otherwise, I counselled them to summarily deal with matters discretely at crime scenes or points of infringements without necessary going to their offices.

The fear of Covid-19 spread should be the beginning of wisdom for security operatives and the government to rewrite the narratives of abysmal hygienic and health situations in our law enforcement agencies’ offices.

The police just like customs, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) do this via crime report by citizens or the agency discovery. The Police (other officers) roles of arrest of suspects kick-start the Criminal Justice Process. The offenders and their detailed criminal allegations go into the First Information Report (FIR). With this pandemic, the health status of offenders/victims should be known. This information is submitted to the courts for prosecution.

Offenders standing trial may become an inmate at the Nigerian Correctional Service facilities spread all over the country or maybe fine for a token and be freed upon payment of the said sum.

Correctional Facilities should be periodically fumigated to prevent wild transmission of Covid-19. A prison outbreak of the SARS-Covid could spell doom because we don’t have the capacity to effectively stem such an incidence.

In Nigeria, convicts do not enjoy parole: a situation, where a prisoner may be given the option of staying anywhere but report to the Nigeria Correctional Centres as at when needed. We only had ‘house-arrest’, a situation where convicts or suspected coup plotters were kept in their houses under the military era.

I suggest Nigeria should try these methods: parole and house detention (house arrest- as a parlance during military governments). This would help in decongesting Correctional facilities and ameliorate the already over stretched detention facilities of Nigeria Customs, NSCDC, Livestock Guards, Amotekum etc during this pandemic and beyond.

Police officers exercise tremendous amount of discretion in their official functions of arrest, investigation and crime prevention and control. This is because; the officer is involved at all levels: arrest, investigation, preparation of FIRs, and eventual prosecution process or trial in the law courts.

Recently, we saw what the Department of State Services (DSS) in the Sahara Publisher, Sowore vs FG case. A recent one is Magu vs FG Panel of Inquiry led by Justice Salami (Rtd). These organs have strong constitutional and presidential backing that oftentimes than not steps on toes in the course of their manifest and latent functions.

The above functions and many related roles bring about challenges in the police and other internal law enforcement agencies’ line of duty.

These may include lack of Personal Protective Equipment like face masks, hand sanitizers, ‘temperature thermometers,’ large area of coverage by a police formation, inadequate officers’ welfare, ineffective supervision due to logistics, manpower development problems. For instance, I can’t imagine Immigration Service personnel at Abande or Vandeikya check points to perform optimally due to dearth of logistics that even at Immigration State Offices might be a luxury. Let us say, ICT equipment and other devices.

First, it is impossible for the police and other law enforcement agencies to discover all crimes and apprehend all offenders due to large areas of coverage and inadequate men and officers to man the operations and keep surveillance.

The law enforcement officer that effect an arrest maybe required to do a FIR. He or she may be involved or ordered to visit the scene of the incident repeatedly for exhibits or further arrest of accomplices and or interrogation(s).

Secondly, the officer goes through the long chain of Criminal Justice Process of arrest, interrogation, prosecution/trial and turning in the criminal to the Nigerian Correctional Service for a jail term.

Thirdly, the high expectations of the society may hinder the enforcement officer’s use of discretion.

Discretion operates at two levels: the individual and departmental. At the Individual Level, it involves the choice of alternative actions by any law enforcement officer; policeman or woman to take or not to take action(s) on real or perceived criminal acts.

For instance, a notorious thief caught with a stolen hen may be manhandle by a police officer because member(s) of the immediate community have induced him either to punish him harshly or release him without going through the process of interrogation at the Police Station, Police Post etc.

Another scenario: the Nigeria Street Offences Act 1959 prohibits prostitutes to solicit men on a street or public places.

In this situation, an officer may want to arrest an ‘Ashawo’. (it is Nigerian parlance for commercial sex workers) …if he effects the arrest, his or her colleagues may make him to either collect ‘egunje’, ingyato’(bribe)’ and let go of the social malefactor. He might also be attracted to the prostitute and therefore wants to take his own portion of the booty.

 

Many human rights movements would ‘feign’ or frame up one case or another on such an officer, if s/he is reasonably suspected.

Recently, both the electronic and print media was agog in Abuja with fake news of allegations about Police Officers who took advantage of some apprehended commercial sex workers in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Based on this case scenario, human rights organizations came calling that the heavens be let loose on the police officers. Many of them were Non-Governmental Organizations that had human rights advancement, social justice, equality, women and gender issues as their thematic and core areas of intervention.

They really castigated the Nigeria Police Force. Tax officials are also harassed and sometimes beaten up in extreme cases in Nigeria. May we learn to be civil with officers of the law in Nigeria.

Thanks to the Service Chiefs, Head of Anti Corruption Commissions or agencies and notably, the Inspector General of Police IGP Mr. Mohammed Adamu’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the indefatigable and public relationship tact and resilience of the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba and the Commissioner of Police FCT, CSP Sewuese Anene, PPRO, Benue State Command; they have arisen to daunting challenges of policing in their various areas of jurisdictions.

We encourage an Inter-Agency Security Synergy among the internal security services (Nigeria Police, Department of State Security (DSS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Correctional Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), Department of Social Welfare, NGOs, Ministry of Women Affairs to get Nigeria rid of crimes and criminals.

The lack of comprehensive training on Victimless Crimes, Investigation of Evidence-less cases and Corporate Syndicates, Basic Legal (little of legal Methods, Law of Evidence, Torts etc and National Values & Ethics, Human Rights Education and training for our policing agencies especially, the Police Officers both at the various Police Training Colleges and periodic workshops has caused more harm than good in the policing of the Nigerian society.

Most officers do not operate within the confines of the rules of engagement when dealing with civil matters. The killing of Late Mr. Emmanuel Tertsea Dia of Akpehe Community in 2017 by officers of SARS is one case too many. We appeal to the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, to release the corpse of this Innocent Nigerian to his widow for burial.

Another case in point is the harassment meted out on motorists especially ‘Okada Riders’ at check points for failing to part with fifty naira (#50). Many have fallen victims: deformed with gunshots, beaten and in some extreme cases killed with what the uniformed security operatives unofficially termed strayed bullets.