I’m a strong advocate of intelligence policing — Arase

By EBEN ENASCO KINGSLEY, Benin City

AS a way of rounding off his nationwide tour on building a police force that can stand the test of time in combating crimes, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Solomon Arase has avowed that he is a strong advocates of intelligence policing and Human Rights propagator.

Arase made the statement at the Edo State Command, Benin City on the occasion of his nationwide familiarization tour of 37 Police Commands in the state since his assumption of office as the Inspector General of Police.

While addressing men and officers of the State Command, he commended the leadership quality of the command on community policing and combating crimes, saying as the IG of the federation he advocated intelligence policing and urged them to do more to dominate the security space of the state.

His words: “One of the reasons I decided not to sit within the comfort of my office in Abuja and dish out my directives is that I should be able to see what you are doing on the ground, connect with you, motivate you and share my mission on what policing is supposed to be in a democratic society.

“I am a strong advocate of intelligence policing and human rights propagator. I came up with some strategic plans on what I expect my policing vision in line with the international best practices in a decent society; because I have always insisted that as officers you must be able to demarcates between criminal and civil offenses.”

Similarly at the opening ceremony of the Police barracks at Iyamo the home town of the comrade governor, the IGP stated that the comfort of police officers was the motive behind having a barrack that will serve the people in the locality, adding,”we would be able to now use the facility here to lock down the high way between here and lokoja which has become very security threat to the nation.

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The 18th indigenous IGP, however warned officers to desist from land matters as he emphasized that the police force does not have the rights to allocate land to anybody but asserted that it is the duty of the civil court.

Earlier, the state commissioner of police, CP, Chris Ezike, in his speech thanked the IGP for his support in crime combating and reinvigorating high visibility policing strategy, adding, “as a result of this, there has been a harvest of recoveries of 170 firearms, 534 ammunition,390 cases of various offences charged to court for onward prosecution between September 2015 and April 2016. CP Ezike prayed the IGP Arase to commission an audit unit with a view to upgrading the command’s communication equipment.

The tour also took the IGP to the office of the state Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, the Benin crown prince of Uselu Eheneden Eredaiuwa, and host of others.