By Audrey Lotechukwu
MON, 05 OCT, 2020-theGBJournal- The Inspector-General of Police ban follows weeks of social media outrage against the notorious FSARS squad, caught severally on videos and cameras extorting money from motorists on highways, maiming, beating and even killing of many innocent Nigerians in the pretext of preventing crime. And it follows also, against the backdrop of findings of leadership of the Force that a few personnel of the Tactical Squads perpetrate all forms of illegality, contrary to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), Code of Conduct and Rules of Engagement establishing the Squads.
The list of banned personal include, the Federal Special Anti-Robbery (FSARS), the Special Tactical Squad (STS), the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), the Anti-Cultism Squad and other tactical squad operating at the Federal, Zonal and Command levels. They are all banned from carrying out routine patrols and other conventional low-risk duties-stop and search duties, checkpoints, mounting of road blocks, traffic checks among others with immediate effect.
The IGP, M.A Adamu in addition ordered all Force personal to stop embarking on patrols and tactical assignments in mufti. He said, ‘’they must always appear in their police uniforms or tactical gear.’’
Specifically, the IGP warned the Tactical Squads against the invasion of the privacy of the citizens particularly through the indiscriminate and unauthorised search of mobile phones, laptops and other smart devices.
‘’They are to concentrate and respond only to armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes when the need arises,’’ the IGP said in a statement released Sunday by DCP Frank Mba, Force Public Relations Officer.
Adamu condemned every act of unprofessionalism, abuse of human rights and high-handedness by some personnel of the Squads and consequently ordered the X-Squad and the Force Monitoring Unit to embark on immediate and massive nationwide monitoring of activities of the Tactical Squads and other police officers on the road.
‘’They are to ensure prompt arrest, investigation and prosecution of erring police officers who violate these directives and other extant regulations of the Force,’’ he said.
He has equally warned all the Commissioner of Police in charge of FSARS, Commissioner of Police in charge of State Commands and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as well as their supervisory Zonal Assistant Inspectors General of Police, that they will be held liable for any misconduct within their Area of Responsibility (AOR).
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