ABUJA – The police authorities received 7,216 cases of professional misconduct made against officers and men of the force in the past two years, according to a report.
Citing the report, the Head of the Public Complaints Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU) of the force, ACP Abayomi Shogunle, said on Monday in Abuja that the report covered the period from Nov. 13, 2015 to Nov. 13, 2017.
Shogunle told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that 5,927 of the cases were resolved amicably with 729 still pending, while 560 of the cases were found to be false.
He said that 1,820 of the cases were requests for bail from members of the public and that 328 were for benefits while 278 centered on distress calls.
Shogunle said that N11.1 million and 800 dollars extorted from people within the period were handed over to their owners.
He said that 81 officers were also sanctioned during the period for various professional misconducts.
Shogunle said that 10 officers were dismissed for professional misconduct and that one was reprimand while 64 others given various punishments.
He said that four of the officers had their ranks reduced, while two were suspended, noting that an assistant commissioner of police was the highest ranking officer sanctioned during the period.
Shogunle said that Lagos, Rivers and the FCT commands recorded the highest number of complaints against policemen, while Sokoto, Yobe and Kebbi recorded the lowest.
The officer said that 87, 600 telephone calls were received and that 5,175 were treated as complaints while 4, 207 e-mails were received on complaints.
He pointed out that there was need to strengthen the capacity of the unit to take more calls from members of the public, noting that majority of the people preferred sending their complaints via telephone.
Shogunle, who canvassed for more powers for the police, said that such powers should not be without severe sanctions in case of abuse by officers.
“The police should be given more powers and severe sanctions should also be visited on officers, who abuse their positions,” he said.
The PCRRU was established by the police authorities on Nov. 13, 2015 with a mandate to receive and resolve cases of professional misconduct brought against officers.
