The Cross River State Command of the Nigeria Police Force has made plans to establish an all-female Rapid Response Squad which will intensify and expand the capacity of personnel to fight crimes.
When established, the group would be the first all-female police rapid response squad to operate within Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, south-south Nigeria.
The Commissioner for Police, Sikiru Akande, who made the disclosure while speaking with some journalists in Calabar on the achievements of the command within the last six months, said that the force was actively training its personnel on the use of technology in crime fighting.
Akande stated that the essence of creating an all-female squad was to make policing more impactful and encourage communities to key into the Nigerian Government’s Community Police programme to participate.
He said, “in the past six months since we came into office, we have been able to restore peace, security and the safety, which Cross River State was noted for. There has been remarkable improvement in our security status due to the vibrancy of our officers and men as well as the goodwill of the people.”
Sustaining achievements
The Commissioner stated that to sustain the gains achieved, the command was already making robust plans within its available resources.
“We were able to revamp some broken down vehicles and redeployed them to the divisions, which resulted in increased patrols. We are also going modern because policing is motorized and technology driven,” he said.
According to Akande, “we have been training our personnel in the use of technology for crime fighting and sincerely we are succeeding. Our junior personnel are attending different training in ICT, while some recently concluded the combat training. So we are now trying to see how we can set up an all-female response squad for Cross River State, which we hope would make significant impact.”
Security collaborations
He also attributed the achievements of the State Command to the synergy with other security agencies in Cross River, a relationship which he described as cordial, free of any form of rancor.
The Police Commissioner said, “Cross River State is the safest state in the south-south region of Nigeria and we intend to keep it that way. The support that we received from other security services is tremendous. All the Service Commanders have been working hand in hand to ensure that we keep the peace of this state.”
Akande, however, advised the people of Cross River to jettison any form of communal clashes and engage in ventures that would enhance unity and stability despite the ethnic diversity, which makes the state unique.
The Police Commissioner urged, “Cross River State is yet to harness the vast human resources it has to promote unity and stability. I believe it is time for the people to stop acts of disunity or the pull-him-down syndrome and be united because the police have brought stability.”
He added that the command would not rest on its oars in the fight against all forms of crimes across the state.
Emmanuel Ukoh
