To ensure that the Police Service Commission (PSC) effectively discharges its mandate, the commission’s chairman, IGP Solomon Arase (Retd.), weekend, played host to two delegations from the United States of America (USA), International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and the National Crime Agency of the British High Commission at the corporate headquarters of the commission in Jabi, Abuja.
A press statement by the commission’s head, Press and Public Relations, Ikechukwu Ani, said the delegations also visited the commission’s newly established Compliance Monitoring Unit (CMU), a tracking platform on public complaints against serving Nigeria police officers and promised to assist the PSC to drastically reduce human rights abuses by the police.
This is as Arase has vowed that any officer who has human rights issues not conclusively investigated by the Police Complaints Unit would be stepped down from promotion and postings.
The commission boss also frowned at pre-trial detention of suspects by the police, stating that PSC would no longer tolerate detentions beyond what the law provides for, just as he assured that what Nigerians want was a responsible police force that would respect the human rights of the citizenry.
Ani said in the press statement that, “The US delegation was led by Jason A. Smith, Director International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs while Chris Grimson of the National Agency Anti- Kidnap and Extortion Unit (AKEU) visited on behalf of the United Kingdom,” said the Commission boss informed his guests that the PSC set up the CMU to ensure that the rights of the citizens were protected and offending police officers sanctioned for misconduct.”