News Editor
Peter Jerome
The acting Inspector-General of Police Alkali Baba has disclosed that the disbandment of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) has created a vacuum in policing the country.
The IGP made this disclosure at a media briefing on Thursday in Abuja.
He said the morale of police officers in the country has been low since the #EndSARS protests in October 2020.
The acting inspector-general of police said the special weapons and tactics squad (SWAT) established to replace SARS has not yet commenced operations.
He said the vacuum created by SARS has made it difficult to tackle most of the violent crimes in the country.
“The security situation of the country has been significantly stabilise from time to time but we think if it is stabilising then are isolated insurgency coming from these zones in terms of attacks on police facilities and police personnel, even all law enforcement agencies including the military,” he said.
“Therefore, we decided to, one, rejig the morale of our personnel, which has been a little bit dampened since the #EndSARS thing went.
“With the proscription of SARS and establishment of SWAT, which has not been able to take off fully.
We had a vacuum in tackling most of the violent crimes from our position of strength.”
Speaking on the planned recruitment of 10,000 new police personnel, the IGP said the process has reached 70 percent and that the exercise follows the federal character principle.
