There
is a saying that “a friend in need, is a friend in deed”, how then can we call
the Nigerian police our friend when to them “a friend in need, is a friend to
suck high and dry”. The duties of a police officer as enshrined in section (4)
Police Act, entails
- Prevention and detection of crime
- Apprehension of offenders
- · The preservation of law and order
- · The protection of life and property, &
- · The DUE enforcement of all laws and regulations with which they are directly charged.
The
law in its wisdom went further to state the standard of conduct as well as
attributes meant to be inherent in a police officer, which, If followed strictly
would make Nigeria a better place to live in.
Section
(340) Nigeria Police Regulations further state;
A
police officer is required to develop the attributes of
- · Efficiency and thoroughness, meticulous attention to details in the performance of his/her duties.
- · Courtesy, forbearance and helpfulness in his/her dealings with members of the public.
- · integrity, in refusing to allow religious, racial, political or personal feelings, or other considerations to influence him in the execution of his/her duties.
- · Impartiality in the avoidance of feelings of vindictiveness or the showing of vindictiveness towards offenders.
- · Strict truthfulness in his/her handling of investigations and in the giving of evidence.
From
the above, a keen and observant reader would clearly see that it is the intent
of the laws of the land, that not only should the police protect our lives and
properties, but also, that such duties should be performed in a very courteous
and mannerful way, these provisions of the law portray a picture of a police
that can be trusted 100% by its citizenry, this however, is not the case in
Nigeria.
Nigeria
being a country that does her things upside down, also has in addition, a
police force that works completely opposite from what is provided for in its
regulations. Bearing this in mind, let’s take ’bail’ as a point of focus.
Bail
by definition is the procedure by which a person arrested for an offense is
released on security being taken for his appearance on a particular day and
place. Bail is a right and not a favour or privilege, hence, it should not be
denied anyone in police custody that demands it. No doubt the police possess
constitutional right to detain anybody, against whom they have reasonable
suspicion over a crime while investigation is still in progress, what is worthy
of discuss however, Is the attitude and behaviours of our police officers when
a suspect has crossed the counter in our various police stations spread across
the country. My heart goes out to citizens of this beloved country who have
found themselves in this bizarre situation without the aid or assistance of a
lawyer, reason being that, our police officers have turned bail into a money
making machine.
The
police has no discretion as to whether or not to grant a person in custody bail
unless the offence committed is a serious one{e.g treason, murder, Armed
robbery e.t.c}, bail must be granted free as it is a right and so does not
carry a fee or gratification, but alas, the reverse happens to always be the
case!
Let
us not forget that ‘bail’ is just one of the many ways that the police have
contributed immensely to the under development of this great country of ours.
One might be forced to ask “how then do we correct these anomalies?”, to be
honest, as i write this piece, am also dumbfounded as to solutions to proffer
for the unholy behaviour of our police officers has already eaten deep into the
system.
The
only suggestion i can think of right now, is a complete over hauling and
re-orientation of the Nigerian police, meaning, a police officer should be
sound upstairs to be able to read and write without difficulty or if not good
enough, at least should be able to understand the tenets and etiquettes guiding
his profession, then maybe and only maybe, would we be able to call police our
friend.
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