Okey Sampson, Aba
Abia State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ene Okon, has decried what he described as the alarming rate of policemen’s involvement in criminal activities in Aba and warned them to desist from it.
Okon, who stated this in Aba during a meeting with members of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), urged the officers in the area to eschew indiscipline in its entirety and embrace proper policing.
He said: “I have a problem with policemen in Aba. The number of policemen that are involved in criminal activities in the city is alarming.
“Every policeman in Abia wants to go to Aba. My question is, to do what? Does it mean police work cannot be done at Nkporo, Arochukwu, Isuikwuato and Uzuakoli? Why must it be Aba?
“The bottom line is bribery. For those who have corrupt tendencies that brought them to Aba to destroy the image of the police, I urge you to get ready because it will not work again.”
The CP, while stressing that he came to Abia to return the police to the community, urged members of the public to always fulfill their own obligations to the police in the areas of providing information and obedience to the law.
While saying it was a shameful act for any policeman to be involved in criminal activities, he, however, assured that he was not going to spare any officer involved in crime.
“I don’t know whether you are not ashamed that you, as policemen, are involved in crime all because of pocket money. But I will not spare you,” he warned.
He said it was an aberration for anyone employed by government to fight crime turn to be a criminal, adding that he was in Abia with stick and carrot. He said he would not fail to use the stick on any officer that refused to change.
He called for synergy between the police and the public to enable Abia experience full community policing.