IGP charges personnel to adopt contemporary methods in crime prevention

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Usman Alkali Baba, has charged officers and men of the Police Force to redouble their efforts in crime prevention, saying that, the changing pattern of criminality has warranted the introduction of technology in fighting crime.

He gave this charge while addressing officers and men of the Force at the Akwa Ibom State Police headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia Uyo, Tuesday.

The IGP who is on a one-day working visit to the state to commission the Special Protection Unit Base built by the state government in Onna local government council noted that it was the responsibility of the Force to provide a conducive environment for economic and social activities to thrive.

“Crime and criminality is a dynamic thing, it is not something that is static, it moves with time, with modernization and it moves with technology.

“Today, we see how the human beings are taken away and they are asking you to bring money, that is a new crime called kidnapping, we know of armed robbery and we started hearing of armed banditry.

“So, we must work with time, we must work with modernity, and therefore, one of our cardinal principles in this job is to train and retrain ourselves.

“We just started training our 10,000 recruits effective last Monday and we have been able to change the curriculum to reflect modernity”, he said.

According to the IGP, the Force, “have received over 200 brands of pick-up vehicles from the Police Trust Fund office, we have made air-wing very effective, we proud of putting six helicopters on the air at one time. Our marine section had been reactivated, our technical intelligent unit is working, we have acquired drones, digitalized our crime section, we have involved a lot of technology in our work”.

He said that, in the efforts at repositioning the Force, it has garnered a lot of support from the government, stressing that, such as a source of encouragement to the Force.

“Manual policing might not be the answer, but at the same time we need a manpower that is committed to duty, encouraging, confident, well educated, and ready to learn”, he said.

He commended the state command for not giving him cause to doubt the capability and capacity of the command in handling issues, assuring the CP of his support.

Earlier, the State Commissioner of Police, Andrew Aniengheme, thanked the IG for stopping over at the command, assuring him that, the loyalty of the command to his administration was total.

He told the IGP that, the ability of the command to rejig the security architecture in the state when he assumed duties, has resulted in quelling the crisis that the state experienced in the Essien Udim council area of the state.