I wrote many hours ago on the SWAT (yes, tactical team) as follows: “I had noted that the new SWAT (yes, SARS) should only serve Nigerians only when needed and during ACTIVE violent crimes. In other words, the new SWAT needs to come out only when there is an ACTIVE violent crime…The SWAT should never be structured to prevent crime, but to fight an active and ongoing one.” This is the update from the Police, mirroring ideas we are sharing here.
The SWAT should never be structured to prevent crime, but to fight an active and ongoing one; the regular police force has the mandate to “prevent” crime. So, a kid in Lagos, Aba, Yobe, Jos, Sokoto and Uyo can live in her city for weeks without seeing SWAT unless there is a violent crime which caused the SWAT team to be activated.
If we push for that reform as the government restructures SARS, we will have a new Service Level Agreement which elevates MOPOL on crime prevention, serving with the regular police, while the SWAT stays out of the way unless absolutely necessary.
As we have been doing since this began, Tekedia is publishing articles on ideas for reforms. #Road2PoliceReforms.
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So, where will the new members of the proposed SWAT be drawn from: within the police or fresh recruitment? The Police should not be in a hurry to impress or pacify anyone. Any thoughtless announcement won’t move the needle, both the process and roadmap need to be released too.
As for the number 1, they haven’t released the list of all members of the disbanded SARS, so how do you verify that the Aliyu, Tope, Akpan or Okey that now has SWAT emblazoned kits, wasn’t part of the murderous SARS? A lot of details is needed here; the Police is still talking like mindless politicians.
Again, what would be the organisational structure of the new SWAT, and who are they answerable to? And in the event of infringements or misdemeanour, who’s responsible and how will the victim be compensated?
This idea of making complex undertaking simple, questions the competence and capability of those touting changes and reforms; their communications so far are light on substance, just hot air.
We need to revisit our hiring process across all strata of public service, it’s obvious that those working for us know nothing; enough of this show of shame!