From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has it’s taking steps to strengthen its internal accountability system, with plans to upgrade the Complaint Response Unit (CRU) to ensure faster response to citizens’ allegations of police misconduct, extortion, harassment and human rights abuses.
The move signals a renewed effort by the Police Force to make complaints against its officers easier to report, track and resolve, while improving transparency in the handling of cases nationwide.
The newly appointed Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), CSP Anietie Okokon Edem, disclosed this at weekend during a familiarisation visit to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), FCT Council, in Abuja.
In an interaction with the NUJ FCT Council officials, the Force PRO advocated a stronger collaboration between the police and the media in reporting ongoing reforms.
Edem described the CRU as one of the Force’s foremost internal accountability mechanisms and said the unit operates round-the-clock to receive and process complaints from members of the public.
According to him, the planned improvements are aimed at shortening response times, strengthening case tracking and making the outcomes of complaints more transparent.
He said the reforms were part of the commitment of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Tunji Disu, to improving professionalism, accountability and public confidence in the Force.
The FPRO also called for greater media awareness of the CRU, stressing that journalists have an important role to play in informing citizens about available channels for reporting misconduct and ensuring that legitimate complaints do not disappear without follow-up.
Edem announced plans for a media parley with the Force’s Zone 7 Command as part of efforts to deepen police-media engagement at the zonal level.
He thus urged journalists to participate actively in the engagement, saying better access to information would enable the media to report more accurately on police activities and reforms.
“Journalists are part of the police family. To this end, informed reporting would help citizens hold institutions accountable while also supporting constructive reforms within the Force,” he said.
Chairman of NUJ FCT, Grace Ike, welcomed the planned strengthening of the CRU and pledged the council’s cooperation with the police.
Ike commended Edem for his approachability and said journalists would continue to amplify citizens’ concerns while giving adequate publicity to developments around the complaint mechanism.
She also pledged that the media would scrutinise complaints raised by members of the public and follow up on their resolution to ensure that issues of public interest receive the necessary attention.
‘The development places greater emphasis on the CRU as a potential bridge between citizens and the police at a time when complaints of misconduct can significantly influence public perception of law enforcement.
“For the media, the challenge will now be to move beyond merely reporting the existence of the complaint mechanism to monitoring how effectively complaints are received, investigated and resolved.
“The success of the strengthened CRU could therefore be measured not only by the number of complaints received, but by how quickly cases are addressed, how transparently outcomes are communicated and whether disciplinary or corrective measures are taken where officers are found culpable.
“With stronger media scrutiny and public awareness, the upgraded complaint system could provide an important avenue for rebuilding trust between the police and the communities they serve,” she said.
(The Sun)