Police chief educates officers on use of firearms
……… Charges them to be Professional duty during Operaion
Written By Dedeigbo Ayodeji Samson
Posted By Town Crier News Nigeria
Published By Fitness Network Communications
The use of firearms by police operatives has been contentious. A lot of Nigerians have been sent to their early graves due to recurrent accidental discharge.
However, the Area Commander in Charge of Area ‘M’, Idimu, the Area Commander in Charge of Area ‘M’, Idimu, Gbenga Adeoye, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, spoke extensively on this and efforts of the police the train their men on the use of firearms.
He said: “The fact remains that the police do not want the organization to be brought to disrepute because of arbitrary use of firearms by some of our Men and we need to let them know, lecture them, remind them of the principle guiding that firearms.
It is a deadly weapon and it is the last to attend to any issue.
“We have a Force Order that covers when, how we can deploy our firearms.
“It is called Force Order 237, but of course, the police authority felt that those principle were somehow voluminous for most of our men to grasp and that was why it was compressing to those four acronyms of PLAN; that is Proportionality, Legality, Accountability, and Necessity for the use of firearm.
“It means they need to PLAN before they use it because if they don’t, they will misuse it and it is easier for them to remember those Four acronyms rather than for them, racking their brains as to say, when I’m supposed to use it and when I’m not supposed to use it.
“They now know that they must consider the proportionality of the force that is being used against them before they will deploy their own force that must not be in excess of the force against them.
“We are not asking them to be timid but we are asking them to consider the proportionality of the force that is being used against them.
“Then the Legality, of course, it is legal for a police officer to carry firearms on some occasions. When we send people on patrol, they are not going to go on anti-crime patrol with our baton; they have to be with firearms in case they are attacked. That is legal.
“We also talked about the principle of necessity. Even if I’m carrying the weapon, when is it necessary for me to deploy it, in what instance I’m supposed to deploy it?
“We also talked about the need for them to be accountable because after all is said and done, they will be asked why did you have to do this?
“They must be able to defend their action, that is what the four acronyms of PLAN stands for.
“Synergy between the Police and the Community is germaine the world over; there is no police organization that can do it all alone without the buying in of the community and that buying in needs to come with their trust.
“We cannot be everywhere at all times. We need Intel, information from the community to help us to reduce crime because it is the community we are working for and if they let us do it on our own, we will not be effective in it. So, there’s a need to buy and get their trust in policing them.
On videoing or photographing police officers on duty, Adeoye said “it shows that one is trying to encourage whatever the police are doing and everybody will know that. But we know the mind of some people in wanting to bring disrepute to the police. Your intent needs to be known. If you are doing that to encourage the police for his good work, fine.”
Photo captions :ACP Gbenga Adeoye, Area Commander in charge of Area ‘M’Command Idimu,
CSP Gladys Faniyi Divisional Police Officer DPO Idimu Division ,and some other senior Officers
Asked about the implications, considering that people could get that picture, edit it, photoshop it in order to malign the activities of the police, the police boss explained: “You have the right to take pictures but we need to know the purpose of that so that it will not be used against the police.
“We are not going to stop you from doing what is right, but definitely, we will stop you from going against the Nigeria Police Force,” he concluded.
