As a security columnist writing on the back page of The Dawn newspaper which is a police tabloid newspaper, I had written on a topic titled “Constable Cause Trouble” to highlight how Police Constables and their “senior brothers”, the Corporals attract odium to the police as an institution. They brazenly collect bribe from members of he public at road blocks and inside police stations despite the “ Bail is free” inscriptions that adorn the stations. Administratively , Constaables and Corporals create problems for their superiors and departments.
However, operation wise they are the foot soldiers of the police. But sadly, they often times embarrass the police hierarchy and institution when they go off guard to perpetrate illegality while in uniform .Many innocent citizens have lost their lives to the reckless and unethical conduct of the personnel.Such misconduct is the mishandling of fire arms allocated to them while on duty. A case study is the killing of an innocent Secondary student in Ibadan by an alleged drunken policeman . Police rules forbid a police officer carrying a gun while drunk or when afflicted with mental health problem . According to reports, stray bullet killed a student who was heading to an examination centre to sit for the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination being organised by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The incident happened on Gbagi Market road in the Egbeda Local Government Area of the state when a stray bullet allegedly fired by a police officer in pursuit of a suspect hit and killed the student.
PUNCH Online gathered that the student was reportedly in his father’s car, heading to the exam centre, when he was struck by a bullet fired by police officers chasing a Hilux vehicle.
Now, let us situate the entire scenario. Why did the drive of the car ply a one-way lane when he knew the traffic rules. Drivers like him operate without drivers license and most often beat the traffic light and would want to bribe traffic officer for any traffic offence committed when arrested.
If blames should be apportioned, the first would be the driver who disobeyed traffic rules and secondly the police officer who shot at a moving car instead of copying the number plate of the car or alerting his colleagues at the next police check point via radio comunication about the fleeing traffic offender .If one is to follow report about the alleged unstable mind of the police man who was said to be drunk and on illegal duty ,then a case can be established against him. The students also have a share of the blame. As students one had expected them to be conversant with traffic rules and ought to have cautioned their father by drawing his attention to the illegal act that he was embarking upon. More so ,had the children courageously done so, perhaps he would have had a rethink and thus averted the tragedy. This underscores the importance of enrolling our children in either the boys scouts or the girls guide where courage, discipline and fearlessness while communicating to elders are imbibed. Impressively, hours after the incident, the state governor Oluwaseyi Abiodun Makinde issued a press statement and described the incident as “sad,shocking and painful”. in other words, the incident was shocking to the Governor because he never expected a police officer to shoot at a moving vehicle just because of a traffic offense. He directed that the police should further investigate the incident. Meanwhile,it took the office of the Inspector-General of police days before reacting to the incident. the Inspector-General of Police condemned the incident and assured that the officer involved in the shooting has been taken into custody, while a full-scale investigation is underway.The Ibadan shooting underscored the clamour for state police.
If there was state police, the incident wouldn’t have attracted the attention of the Inspector -General of police.It would have ended at the state command level were both the state commissioner of police and the state governor would have effectively handled the incident with outstanding result.
Infact If the Oyo state was operating under state police system it wouldn’t have been necessary and waiting for the police headquarters in Abuja to take over the investigation of the incident nor would it had warranted dispatching police officers from Abuja to Ibadn to embark on an investigation into the incident as such procedure is not only cumbersome but time wasting and costly. State police system would have urgently addressed the situation without much ado. A call for state police is a call for the decentralization of the Nigeria police system, it is a call for the restoration of discipline in the Nigeria police system, it is practicable policing system,cost effect and brings efficiency in the police and noticeable in other clime.
It will address the insufficiency in police man power and cut down expenditure in investigating matters. Many Africa countries have establish state policing systems which had cut down the rate of criminality in these countries