The internal security space in Lagos State recently has been laced with the trends of cultism, armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, sexual and gender-based violence, illegal firearms proliferation, and occasional traffic robberies, according to the State Commissioner of Police, CP Idowu Owohunwa.
The CP stated this on Wednesday while welcoming the acting Inspector General of Police, Ag. IGP Kayode Egbetokun, PhD, NPM, who is on a tour of duty at the Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja.
According to him, hardly a day passes by without the eagle-eyed operatives of the Command recovering weapons and illicit drugs at stop and search points, raids of black spots, and other operational engagements.
He said, “Also of routine concern is the traffic gridlock and the attendant occasional traffic robberies which are compounded by ongoing road projects across the State including, in particular, the Lagos-Ibadan highway.
“The crime profile of the State is further accentuated by the prevalence of illegal firearms proliferation, and illicit drug abuse and trafficking. Sir, hardly does a day passes by without the ever-vigilant operatives of the Command recovering weapons and illicit drugs of various descriptions at stop and search points, raids of black spots, and other operational engagements with all such recoveries linked to the perfection of crimes across the State.
“Most worrisome in all these is a noticeable trend that indicates increasing local expertise in the fabrication of various types of firearms including replicas of foreign-made pistols, AK47 and other assault rifles. This trend, coupled with the threat of cultism, projects a potent danger to the security space of Lagos State and if nothing drastic is done by all strategic State actors and the citizens to complement the efforts of the Police in rolling back the dangerous tide.”
Despite these challenges, the Command has adopted a problem-solving framework founded on zero-tolerance to crime, crime mapping, and utilization of crime statistics and intelligence analysis tools to support perspective policing.
To address the issue of cultism, CP Owohunwa said the Command would organize a conference to mainstream the discourse on cultism and violent crimes in the State, while the Command is working in partnership with the Office of the First Lady of Lagos State to establish a purpose-built Centre for the Command’s Gender Unit in addressing the prevalence of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.
In the same vein, the IGP will commission the Lagos State Complaint Response Unit (SCRU) as a center for the receipt of complaints on police officers’ service inadequacies from the public, coordinate an immediate response, and facilitate the investigations and prosecution.
The State Complaint Response Unit has applications for e-crime reporting which enables citizens to report crimes from the comfort of their homes or offices without necessarily coming physically to the Police Stations.
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