The acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has urged Nigerians to refrain from taking complaints against police officers to social media.
The police chief made the appeal while speaking at a stakeholders meeting at the headquarters of the police command in Ibadan, Oyo state on Tuesday, August 22.
He stated that he cannot guarantee that police officers will behave well but when they don’t, they should be reported to the Commissioner of Police to face punishment.
In his words;
“If you have any complaint against the police, don’t go to social media. Go to the commissioners of police in the state. Some of our men will misbehave, we cannot guarantee that all of them will behave well. Report to the CPs or any superior officer who will take it up and ensure justice is done. There are a lot of falsehoods going on on social media. If you need clarification, go to the commissioners of police or police public relations officers (PPROs).”
Egbetokun said his mission is to put in place professional, service-driven, rule-of-law-compliant, and people-friendly police officers. He said he is desirous of having a police force that would be able to respond adequately to the dynamics of crime and criminality in society and “ensure citizens sleep with their two eyes closed”.
“Modern policing is community-based, technology-driven, and intelligence-led. We are going to focus on community in all the states of the federation. But we are shifting to new policing strategies. We are going to adopt community policing by taking cognisance of certain peculiarities of each community through collaboration with other security agencies and state-owned security outfits to fight and reduce crime.”he said