'Who Will Police the Police' By Gabriel Akinadewo

‘Who will Police the Police?’ By Gabriel Akinadewo

I can bet my salary that it was not his first time.
He must have perfected the act through previous successful operations.
Probably, one time or the other, he used his official cover as a shield to escape the long arm of the law.
People looked up to him for succour whenever there was a problem.
They didn’t know he was the Problem-in-Chief.
A policeman, he was central to a drama that happened penultimate Monday.
If you think our anonymous cop was a Nigerian policeman, you are off target.
The incident happened in far away Malaysia.
Interestingly, it was the day a live cobra was employed to protect a luxury shop in London.
The Malaysian drama happened in Ipoh, capital of the Northern State of Perak.
It was at a coffee shop.
A housewife was about to enter the shop when this man came from nowhere.
He went for the woman’s bag the way a cat goes for a rat.
He grabbed it and took off.
Expectedly, the woman screamed.
Bystanders gave a hot chase and pronto, he was arrested.
They must have said: “God don catch you today.” Petty thief, we’ll take you to the station.’
Of course, they headed for the local police station.
They were shocked when a check of his identification papers showed that he was a police man.
At that point, they became confused.
A police man behaving like a common criminal.
Incredible.
In fact, the confirmation came from Perak police chief Zulkifli Abdullah.
“He is a police man. We have confirmed that but we will investigate further” he said.
Investigate what? I asked myself when I read the story.
A friend who was with me said: “Well, all police men are the same.”
If a police man could behave that way, then who will protect the people?
As if reading my mind, the management of Harrods in London did the unthinkable.
It sought the help of a live Cobra to protect a luxury shoe collection.
The “slippery” security guard was on duty for the launch of exclusive footwear including a £62,000 (N15.5 million) pair of ruby-sapphire and diamond-encrusted Rene Caovilla sandals.
A spokesman for Harrods admitted that the Cobra was hired strictly for the launch.
“The snake has now been returned to its owner. So no need to fear snake bites at the shoe counter. Not unless you are a burglar,” she said.
Only God knows how many people entered the shop that day because is you are a genuine buyer, it will take a lot of guts for anybody to enter any place where a cobra is the Chief Security Officer.
But can you blame the management?
A N15.5 million sandal was at stake.
And that is just one of the collections.
Was the Cobra hired just for ‘effect’ or because the management lost faith in the police to protect the store?
In Nigeria, the question people ask everyday is: who will police the police?
This is because of the state of insecurity in the land.
And the lack of modern technological system to properly monitor the activities of those in charge of our security has deepened the fear.
Last Wednesday in Ibadan, a fake policewoman was paraded by the Commissioner of Police Prince Ekpoudom Udom.
Theresa Sunday didn’t just start her trick yesterday.
She started in 2004.
Three years of deception.
She was in the police force until 2004 when she was dismissed.
To survive, she continued to parade herself as a police woman.
Also paraded with her was a fake lawyer.
But no lawyer will accost you and shout: you are under arrest.
No lawyer will use his wig and gown to threaten that you will be locked up unless you part with some cash.
It is difficult for a lawyer to snatch a bag and make a dash for it.
The argument here is that security matter is too sensitive to be treated with kid gloves.
And unfortunately, that is the situation in the country.
Somebody who was dismissed must have done something against the ethics of the police.
It was gathered that after her dismissal, she refused to surrender her uniform to the command.
Obviously, somebody did not do his job very well.
And for 36 months, this administrative/security lapse led to that loose cannon on the streets of Ibadan.
It is an open secret that this scenario is all over the country.
The Theresa Sunday drama is just one of the known cases.
Many are unreported.
And innocent Nigerians are usually the victims.
Only God knows how many people she must have ‘fleeced.’
Our government treats security issues on the ‘face value.’
When I saw her photograph, she was downcast.
That was expected anyway.
She did not expect that the day of reckoning would come that fast.
Since she had perfected all the tricks in the book while in the force, she must have convincingly gotten away with a lot of illegalities.
At least what a man can do, a woman can do better.
When she was paraded, there was this board before her with her photograph
Written boldly on it was “The truth is always bitter.”
If we are to tell the police the truth, something must be done on how policemen are recruited.
Equally of importance is what should be done when a policeman or woman is fired.
It is a truism that most of the armed robberies on the expressway with police uniform are not just ordinary Nigerians.
Directly or indirectly, there is a connection with the force.
How can you just dismiss a man and ask him to go into the society, just like that?
The only thing he knows how to do is to carry a gun and now that he has been let loose, what do you expect?
A friend once told me of his experience in the hands of some fake policemen.
He was traveling with another friend when they were stopped by men in uniform.
They thought the guys were policemen.
After checking the vehicle papers, one of them told my friend’s friend who was driving to open the boot.
By then, a couple had parked behind them
He alighted to do just that.
And that was the beginning of another story.
They (including the couple) were led to a bush path and dispossessed of everything on them.
Their car was taken away.
And till today they have not seen it.
I am sure many Nigerians have fallen victim of fake policemen.
When a police team tells you to stop, the logical thing is to slam your brake.
But how do you know if the team is real or fake?
It is high time we started taking security matters seriously.
The real job lies with those at the helm of affairs.
The police must be policed.
And the time is now.


CULLED FROM ‘THE NATION’, SEPTEMBER 24 2007