Former police boss calls for capacity building for SARS operatives

A former Commissioner of Police, Mr. Lawrence Alobi, on Sunday in Abuja, called for a robust capacity building on democratic policing for men of the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS).

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, had on August 14, directed the immediate overhaul of the SARS. The directive was sequel to complaints by Nigerians on the alleged human rights abuse by men of the SARS.

Based on this, Alobi said he is recommending to the police to organize a massive and robust capacity building training on democratic policing for men of SARS, adding that the police unit also requires training on human education and application of emotional intelligence in law enforcement and policing.

The former police officer said the type of government a country operates determines the style of policing.

“The security agencies and personnel of the police should imbibe democratic norms and values in line with international best practices.

The SARS officers must be given rules of engagement and be well funded to be able to face the challenging job they engage in to avoid being compromised,” he said.

Alobi said the police was the most risky job in the country which required more incentives, insisting that “the more the risk the more the incentive should be. When they are well funded the more they will perform”.

He blamed human rights advocates in the country for emphasizing only the rights of the citizens while neglecting their duties to the country and therefore, advised citizens to be security conscious and to encourage security agencies to perform their duties.

The former police commissioner added that SARS was basically established to fight violent crimes like armed robbery and kidnapping and also to intervene when the need arises.

“The only important thing is for them to be supervised, given operational guidelines on what they should do and those they should not do,” he said.