IBADAN – The Police have reiterated that the Citizen’s arrest as much as it permits any individual to arrest suspicious individuals and criminals in the society must not, at any point, lead to violence.
Oyo State Police Commissioner, CP Shina Olukolu, in a chat with ametrocopy, said the Citizen’s arrest law is what backs the local hunters and vigilantes to arrest suspected criminals and hand them over to the police for prosecution.
He also stressed the importance of community policing which he said has aided the police in its task of securing lives and property.
The CP, however, warned that Citizen’s arrest should not lead to violence to avoid unpalatable consequences.
“There is a constitutional provision for that and it is mainly been used by the local hunters, vigilantes, and members of the public too, but after such arrest, the suspect should be handed over to the nearest police station,” he said.
“But if there is violence associated with it, I will advise that the individual involved should report to the nearest police station or security post because if you meet violence with violence, something will give, and what is going to give maybe the person who is complaining or the intruder, you cannot as at that point, say this is exactly what is going to happen” he added.
The Police boss, however, warned members of the public to be sure of the circumstances surrounding the case before offering to assist in arresting suspects so they don’t end up being the accused.
On community policing, he said “If community policing is not working, we won’t have these our young men and women, both in the township and the rural areas, working with the police, assisting us to achieve the much success that we have achieved so far. Sometimes, when we have issues in the forest, aside from the forest rangers, we also call the community members, who know the terrain of the forest more than the policemen.”
CP Olukolu seized the opportunity to express gratitude to the Governor of the state, Engr Seyi Makinde for the patrol vehicles and other logistics gifted the command in November 2019.
“I can’t thank the state governor enough in terms of those logistics that we were given. Those vehicles are fitted with communication gadgets and as I am seated here if I pick this and talk, the man in Saki, the man in Igbeti will respond to my directives, so you can imagine what the man in Ibadan here will do.”
According to the police boss, the gesture has increased the command’s turn-around time and prompt response to distress calls.
He said the command maintains a working relationship with the Oyo state security Trust Fund, which he said helps with the maintenance of some equipment and in the exchange of ideas to improve on serving the public.
CP Olukolu stressed that any policeman on stop and search duty has the right to request for necessary documents to identify the vehicle and the driver in order to prevent the vehicle from being stolen and to assist the police in the recovery of the vehicle peradventure it gets stolen.
While berating road users for always being in a hurry and seeing it as a waste of time to be stopped by the police, Olukolu reminded them that every officer is also on duty at every point they are found.
“You as a driver, either owner-driver or driver, is expected to be in possession of certain documents at the time you are driving the vehicle, one, to be able to identify the vehicle with you, two, to prevent the vehicle from being stolen and three, to assist the security agents in the recovery of the vehicle when it’s eventually been stolen.”
He, however, agreed that some officers go overboard in the discharge of their duties adding that such cases are exemptions and challenges that that can be corrected.
