9th February, 2016
Cyriacus Izuekwe & Yusuf Muhammed
Forthy-two officers of the Nigeria Police Force who had committed various infractions in the course of performing their duties have embarked on reformation training to be better officers in future.
The one week training was recently introduced by the Commissioner of Police, CP Fatai Owoseni at the Police Training College in Ikeja, Lagos State, western Nigeria.
The cops comprising men and women were apprehended in various divisions in Lagos State command.
The offences the officers committed range from drunkenness, extortion among others.
CP Owoseni said the training was meant to reform the officers through exposing them to the standard practice of police profession.
The police chief noted that some of the officers conduct themselves ignorantly without conforming with the rules of engagement and thereby soil the image of the police as an institution.
He said the training was the first of its kind and from the report he got, it was successful and said the programme would continue.
He declared that every division in the Lagos command would be sending their officers every week for re-training to change the perceived bad attitude of some officers.
Owoseni told the officers that the reformation training was not intended to punish them but rather to re-train them to become better police officers.
He urged them to go back to their various divisions and spread the message of what they learnt throughout the one week they embarked on the exercise.
He told them that the authorities would be watching their conduct to know if really they had changed.
He gave each officer a pair of shoes to show his appreciation on the success of the training.
Some of the officers who spoke at the event thanked Owoseni for giving them the opportunity to participate in the training rather than being sacked for misconduct.
They commended the CP and urged him to continue with the exercise because many officers were ignorant of what the police profession is all about.
One of the officers, Chukwu Patrick, thanked the CP for opening their understanding to police work.
He said he benefited from the training by knowing that police work is not about physical showing of power alone rather it involves both mental and physical ability for better performance.
Another officer, Akio Umori, said he had learnt a lot and would preach about the good image of the police.
He noted that the training made him to understand how to perform police work better.
He recommended that other officers should also undergo such training.
The event was attended by senior police officers who accompanied Owoseni.