The Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Solomon Arase has said the commission and the Nigeria Police Force are passing through a challenging period given the kind of crime across the world.
Arase stated this in a statement issued on Sunday Head of Press and Public Relations of the PSC, Ikechukwu Ani.
The PSC chairman said crime across the world has become highly scientific, requiring those involved in combating it (the police) to adopt a scientific approach.
According to Arase, oversight responsibilities have become vast and challenging.
The commission, he also noted, needs proper equipment and training to succeed in its assignment.
Arase, according to the statement, made this disclosure during a meeting with a delegation from the Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria, led by Dr. Iliaysu Buba Gashinbaki, the Institute’s Pioneer President and Chairman of the Governing Council.
The meeting took place at the corporate headquarters of the commission in Jabi, Abuja.
“The PSC Chairman mentioned cyberbullying, criminal financial/banking attacks, and other complex crimes threatening various sectors of the nation’s fledgling democracy,” the statement said.
He noted that both the Police and the commission need to quickly step up to contain these emerging challenges. He added that these two government agencies should also be properly equipped and trained to successfully carry out their constitutional mandates.
He insisted that policing should be more visible at the local level, especially at the Divisional centres that have unfortunately been abandoned, creating a lot of ungoverned spaces where non-state actors have taken over.
He said there is a need for continuous recruitment of policemen to populate the communities and regain control over the ungoverned spaces to restore security of lives and properties across the nation.
Arase said the commission will partner with the Institute to combat the menace of the emerging financial and other crimes in the country.
He added that he advocates outsourcing skills that are lacking in a system. He promised that officials of the Institute would be used as resource persons at Police Colleges, exposing trainees to cybercrime and other complex crime prevention at that level.
In his remark, Gashinbaki applauded the PSC chairman for the excellent work he has brought to the commission.
He noted that this is, undoubtedly a product of his impeccable record in the Nigeria Police Force, where he rose to the highest office of the Inspector General.
Gashinbaki expressed the institute’s readiness to work with the commission in its mandate responsibilities of Police Recruitment, Promotion, and Discipline, and more importantly, in investigation.
