By Joseph Kingston
Calabar
Acute manpower shortage and inadequate accommodation are some of the challenges of effective policing in Cross River state, Mr Kola Sodipo, the state Commissioner of Police has said.
Briefing the Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, Zone Six, Musa Daura, at the state police command headquarters, Calabar, Mr Sodipo, said the development has left the Command unable to man all the beats in the state while some police stations operate from containers.
Sodipo listed other severe challenges confronting the Command to include lack of communication equipment, inadequate barracks accommodation, inadequate operational vehicles and armoured personnel carriers for rapid response to crime scenes.
He said only 20 per cent of police officers lived in barracks and that often the barracks were not in good shape, emphasising that “these barracks where they exist are dilapidated and require urgent renovation and this makes it difficult to mobilise men in times of need.”
He added that some police stations in the Command were operating from rented apartments and that the policemen in the command were frequently harassed by landlords when the Command “is not able to pay the rents.”
“Because we have not been able to meet up with the payment, the landlords have threatened to throw us out and reclaim their structure forcing us to use improvised structures such as containers as police stations,” he said.
Addressing policemen and women in the Command, AIG, Musa Duara, said illegal duties, road blocks, arrests and detention of people which he says amounts to indiscipline and warned that anyone caught would be shown the way out of the force.
He called on the police officers to continue to do their job well and sustain the tempo of performance in the force as the force had undergone several changes to meet up with the society.