Senior Police Officials Who Ignore Phone Calls From Citizens Risk Sack

The new Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos State, Bala Hassan, has warned that Divisional Police Officers and Area Commanders who do not pick their calls may be sacked.

Speaking to journalists on Monday in his office, Hassan said the phone numbers of senior police officers should be available to members of the public so they could reach them on time in case they wanted to report crime or give information.

“A DPO who doesn’t pick his calls is not fit to be in that position,” he said. “All my Commissioners of Police, in Lagos and Ogun States, including DPOs and Area Commanders, should make their phones open to members of the public. They must always pick their calls.

There’s soon going to be billboards for emergency numbers for the public to reach the police. DPO’s should display their phones numbers at the station and charge rooms. Members of the community should have access to the phone numbers of the DPO in their area.”

Hassan said his tenure would witness improvement in crime control, stressing that he was working in tandem with the agenda of the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, and zero tolerance for corruption and corrupt officers.

“We want to improve community policing,” he said. “The IGP said response to it has started leading to reduction in crime. I shall also sit down with my Commissioners of Police to see ways to tackle robbery in traffic jam and other crimes. But there are two ways we are already using to tackle robbery in traffic. The visibility of policemen on the highways and making sure that there is free traffic flow.”