Law/Judiciary
Rivers CP Dismantles FSARS Units
The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mukan, has disbanded all Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) structures in the state with a promise to entrench democratic and community policing in the state.
A press statement signed by the command’s spokesman, SP Nnamdi Omoni and obtained by our correspondent in Port Harcourt, yesterday quoted the Commissioner of police, warning officers and men of the command to ensure full compliance with the Inspector General of Police’s directives on the dissolution of SARS across the country.
It would be recalled that the Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, had recently banned and dissolved the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, and directed all the state Commissioners of Police to implement the directive.
The statement further said that, Mukan announced the dissolution at the end of a meeting with his management team alongside the Commander of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Rivers State, Command in Port Harcourt last Monday.
Part of the statement reads: “Accordingly the state Commissioner of Police has directed the Commander to ensure immediate and total compliance with the IGP’s directive by dismantling all SARS structures in the state.
“The CP aligned himself totally with the position of the Inspector General of Police, warned that no stone will be left unturned to enforce full compliance, noting that the decision of the IGP was made in good faith and for the overall interest of the Force and the need to entrench democratic and community policing.
“Recall that in recent times, there have been public outcry and outrage against the activities of the Special Anti- Robbery Squad, which concerns drew the attention of the IGP leading to his taking certain germane steps to assuage the feelings of the public, which culminated in the complete dissolution of the outfit on Sunday 11th October, 2020.
“The Commissioner of Police wishes to assure the good people of Rivers State, that the dissolution of SARS will not in any way affect the security architecture of the command, as new policing arrangements to address the anticipated gaps resulting from the dissolution will be put in place.
“To this end, the CP wishes to renew the Command’s commitment to ensuring that lives and property of citizens in the State are protected while appreciating the citizens for expressing their concern for a better policing orientation in an organised, patriotic and civil manner.
“Finally, the public, particularly residents of the State are hereby enjoined to continue to support the Police with useful information that will promote security in the State and report any case of non-compliance, infractions, human rights abuses and unprofessional conducts of our men to the following Numbers: ACP Innocent Umerie — AC Ops — 08033825393
Police Control Room — 08032003514, 08098880134
CP Monitoring Unit — 08035437061
PPRO — 08033396538