As the governments at the state and federal level face intense pressure from the citizenry over police brutality and harassment, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, in a bid to curb public disturbance of residents by its officers, has instructed the Public Relations Officer of the Command to roll out the telephone numbers of the Public Complaint Bureau.
The Command, which made this known via the verified Twitter handle of the Lagos State Government, @followlasg, stated that in addition to the already released phone numbers, to enable the general public lodge complaints against police harassment, brutality and extortion, CP Odumosu ordered all checkmating units in the Command including Provost, X-Squad, CP Monitoring Team and Public Complaint Bureau (PCB), to arrest any policeman, who deviates from the normal ethics and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the Nigeria Police within Lagos State.
According to the statement, the Commissioner also urged members of the public to always take the pains of identifying such policemen who harass, brutalise, and extort them as Lagos State hosts many police formations aside from the Lagos State Command.
He noted that such identification is sine-qua-non to immediate investigation and disciplinary actions against the erring personnel.
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He appealed to the general public to contact the Command (Public Complaint Bureau) on the following numbers: 09057597931 (WhatsApp), 09010512350(OC PCB), 09010512348 and 09090003792.
The move by the CP Odumusu, although perceived as a good gesture and coming at a time the general public is call for the government to scrap the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), was criticized by the public because, according to them, it would be impossible for them to call the phone lines provided by the CP because their phone would have been collected by the police.
They, however, stated that the only way out of the current menace is to totally scrap SARS.
