The Rivers State Police Command has once again stated its stand against any form of extortion or illegal road blocks noting that officers involved in such acts will be dealt with severely.
CP Olugbenga Adepoju, made his stand known during his tour of some police checkpoints to inspect the compliance of officers at these checkpoints to directives of the Inspector General of Police on professionalism and good behavior among other issues.
The tour of some police checkpoints on Monday was with the aim of making sure that officers deployed at these checkpoints were properly dressed, carrying name tags and were executing their duties effectively without any harassment or extortion of members of the public.
Adepoju noted that the tour was part of efforts by the command to enforce accountability among others.
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He noted that some of the officers inspected without name tags and dressed poorly had been documented and would be referred to their respective commanders for disciplinary action.
Furthermore, he emphasized that any form of unapproved roadblocks will not be entertained, adding that stop-and-search operations must be conducted in such a way that the movement of traffic is not hindered.
From his account, he said that there has been a drastic decrease in the number of checkpoints in the Rivers-Imo boundary area, and any roadblock discovered during the exercise was swiftly dismantled.
He indicated that this monitoring will continue in the state and stated that commanders as well as heads of departments have been instructed to tighten supervision of the personnel under their jurisdiction.
Adepoju also called on citizens to collaborate with officers carrying out their lawful duties and to make complaints against any act of extortion or harassment committed.
The checkpoint inspection took place in the checkpoints on the East-West Road axis in Ikwerre and Emohua Local Government Area and was done in presence of some high profile police officers.
This includes the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Investigation Department, Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, Mobile Police Squadron Commanders, Heads of Tactical Units, and Divisional Police Officers.
