We’ve Succeeded In Reducing Crime Rate In Rivers By 50% -CP Disu

One of the two primary responsibilities of any government is to protect the lives and property of the citizens. Section 14(2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 succinctly declares that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.
It is safe to say, therefore, that any government that’s worth its onion will prioritise the security of its citizenry. It is against this backdrop that The Tide, in its assessment of Governor Siminialayi Fubara’s one year in office, took time to x-ray some of the modest achievements recorded by the administration in the area of security in the last one year.
The Rivers State Governor is, no doubt, the Chief Security Officer of the State. But given the fact that the governor can not secure the State alone without the  collaboration and cooperation of the security agencies, chiefly the Police, the Editorial Team of The Tide Newspaper comprising the Acting Editor, Reward Akwu; Group News Editor, Boye Salau; Chief Correspondent, John Bibor and cameraman, Dele Obinna, took time to secure a brief interview with the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, on the security of lives and property in the State.
In this no-holds-barred interview, CP Disu eloquently highlighted some of the achievements recorded under his watch in the last six months. He also talked about his command’s relationship with the State Government and other stakeholders in the State.
Excerpts:
Can you tell us how has crime fighting been in Rivers State since you assumed duty?
CP: It has been great since I came. Don’t forget that I had worked in Rivers State some years back. I was a DPO in the metro, I was a DPO in Elimgbu, I was a DPO in Elelenwo; then I was Commander, SARS; I was Commander, Anti kidnapping, and I was AC CID before I left this town.
So, I know the town, I know the terrain. So, when I came back to Rivers State as CP, the most pressing of all crimes was the issue of 2baba who was said to have killed DPO, Ahoada, Superintendent Bako. So, the first thing I did was to go to the place, see the police officers working on the case, discussed with them, boost their morals and let them know the importance of getting the suspect who killed that wonderful police officer and dismembered him.
At the same time, one of the most important thing we did was crime mapping of the whole town. How did we do it? By getting data, statistics of all kinds of cases we are having in the State. With that, we were able to build up the crime mapping.
So, we know at the tip of our hands any kind of crime that is happening in the State and we are able to place them location by location. For example, in Etche, we know what is happening there, the kind of crime especially along the Airport road; we know the kind of crime at Igwuruta; we know the kind of crime we expected in the outskirts. Towns in the outskirts like Ahoada West, East, we know the kind of things to expect in those areas.
This was achieved with crime mapping which has been able to assist us in reducing crime.
Most importantly, the DPOs, we gather them together and talk to them to boost their morals and everybody including the Tactical team are very happy to go ahead and do their job.
So, these are what we have been able to do to reduce crimes and these had assisted us a lot in achieving all these successes.
For your information, we have been able to reduce crime to the barest minimum. We have been able to reduce the rate of robbery, we have reduced the rate of kidnapping and most importantly, the police are getting more and more friendly with the members of various communities because of the meeting we have been having, encouraging partnership with members of all communities. All youth leaders have been contacted, the police have contacted all youth leaders, traditional leaders have been visited and everybody is cooperating with the police.
Sir, since you became CP in the State, what can you consider to be the most difficult challenge you have encountered?
CP: At first, one of the difficulties I had was convincing the people to cooperate with the police, to give information to the police, but within a month or two, we were able to go round, talk to elders, talk to youth leaders and then had various meetings with a lot of student leaders, and leaders of students bodies, and then, it was just as if they were waiting for us to make the contact.
Now, as I speak with you, I can tell you authoritatively that information are coming in to us. People are talking to us, people are becoming confident in giving information to the police and these have been so interesting and a lot of successes have come out from these cooperation with members of the public.
We noticed that for some time now, there has been this problem of car robbery and we know that your men are on top of the situation, how have you been able to address this very serious crime?
CP: You know I mentioned to you that we did crime mapping. We know where the issue of car hijacking, robbing of cars take place most. So, the DPOs were tasked with the job of ensuring that these people are caught, and with a lot of information, we gathered data on them, we are able to profile them, we are able to identify them and beginning to know them. So, it makes it easier for us to go after them and again you notice as you are driving into town and out of town the presence of police officers.
You see them checking vehicles in and out of town and this has contributed a lot in preventing these thieves and robbers from taking these cars out of town like they used to do previously.
The tactical team officers are waking up to their responsibilities and all the tactical teams are bringing in successes.
From what you have said, it is obvious that you are getting the cooperation of Rivers people and stakeholders in achieving all these, what has been the relationship of your command with the State Government, especially in terms of support?
CP: The State Government has been very very supportive of the police. A lot of the times that we asked for assistance from them, they never disappointed. We have assistance in the repairs of a lot of our vehicles, they assisted in the repairs of APC, that is Armoured Personal Carriers, and the Governor has asked us to compile Divisions that do not have vehicles. As I speak with you, it has been sent to the Governor and we have heard he has promised to deliver to us one hundred vehicles, and if information at our disposal is right, some of these vehicles are beginning to arrive. We have seen some of them. At the end of the day, by the time they finish work on the vehicles and the vehicles are complete, these vehicles will be given to the police.
Everything we have asked of him a number of instances we needed accomodations for senior officers visiting,he has always complied.
What has been the relationship between the Police and other security agencies in the State?
CP. The relationship between the police and other security agencies is a fantastic one. It is a very very great one. We hold security meetings regularly and we share intelligence. Before 2baba was captured, we had series of meetings where it was agreed among all the security agencies that injury against one of us is injury against all of us and everybody was not happy about the way DPO Bako was killed and his body dismembered and displayed. Everybody (security agencies) was ready to come together. We shared intelligence, we did a lot of operations together.
Before 2baba was finally gotten, we contacted the Air Force who assisted the Police to soften the ground which made it possible for the Police to assault the camp of 2baba. That was a beautiful synergy between us and the Nigerian Air Force and other security agencies. So, in this town, in this State, we worked together as one.
Can you also tell us how have the Police been addressing the upsurge of Yahoo boys in the State particularly among students in higher institutions? This is a very coded kind of crime. We want to know what the Police have been doing considering a recent incident where somebody dismembered his girlfriend and others. That case is in the court now. How has the Police been able to fight this kind of crime?
CP: I want to differentiate between Yahoo boys and the example you gave for somebody dismembering his girlfriend. We want to look at it as a crime of what it is. That is a case of murder, homicide. We want to treat it as such but yes, we have cases of Internet fraud popularly identified as Yahoo Yahoo. All these are perpetrated by young men and women of certain ages.
One or two of them have been arrested and we have charged them to court as deterrent to others. A team has just been created specifically to tackle this issue of Internet fraud perpetrated by the youth and a lot of students.

Sincerely speaking, this thing is prevalent all over the country. What have we been able to do about it? We have been able to have discussion with student bodies, advising them again and again to stop from these activities of defrauding members of the public and especially stealing from the international community. We have been able to let them know the implications of this for the country, damaging the reputation of the country. A lot of countries do not want Nigerians to come because we have been associated with fraud of various kinds.
Question: We equally want to talk about what is going on around our office particularly the Diobu area of Port Harcourt. We have cases of cult clashes and that is very close to a very major station, Mile 1 Police Station. We are equally affected not by the cult related alone but by the act of robbery that happens around our office. Many of our staff have been robbed at the close of work. We want to know what the Police are doing to reduce this criminal activity to the barest minimum if not to totally stop the crime around that Diobu axis of Port Harcourt?
CP: Sincerely, if I tell you that I’m not aware of this issue I will be lying to you. We get cases of cult clashes in that area and time and time again we have been able to arrest a lot of them and ensure that we charge them to court.  I want you to know that we are not the cause of these cult activities.
The issue of cultism is becoming endemic. Hardly can you see people moving around there, even walking there without belonging to a particular cult or the other. Day in, day out, new kinds of cult are coming up, and the police don’t have any choice than to continue to raid them. We have been raiding those areas, and recently we have been able to recover firearms. We recovered four AK-47 riffles during one of our raids.
We recovered two pistols with AK-47 ammunition close to 200 during one of our raids. There is no time we go there without recording success, without recovering one arms or the other, locally made pistols in those areas. Almost all those areas are infested with cultists or various groups.
So, the solution is to keep it minimal and what do we do about it is to continue to raid and we will continue to do that until we are able to dislodge them finally from that area.
Question: What kind of assistance are we going to get from the Police in that dimension? We are very particular about security around our office (The Tide) in Diobu. What assurance are we getting from you concerning our office, that henceforth, our staff can go home freely and safely when they close from work no matter how late without robbery incident?
CP: First and foremost, we will tell them to be security conscious, for them to have it in their minds that they are walking through an area that is dangerous. Information is vital to them.They should open their eyes, open their ears, they should know when a clash is going on, they should look forward and see it on time for them to be able to take necessary actions.
Carrying their phones, exposing their expensive phones on the street all over the world is condemned. Keep your phones, don’t appear expensive to these hoodlums, they look at you, size you up before they attack you.
Now, on the part of the Police, we will continue to patrol these areas. Our men can come and identify your area. Like we have been able to do, we identify a lot of stakeholders. Police officers have been advised to come down from their vehicles and do foot patrol. When they are doing that, these hoodlums are seeing them and at that particular time we have been able to curtail crimes because they know the Policemen are moving around.
We will take care of your area. We have noted your area and most importantly, we will tell the DPO to put special interest in this area.
Question: What is the crime rate in Rivers State when you assumed office and now if you are to access it?
CP: I will be able to tell you that we have been able to bring it down to 50 percent.
Question: Finally Sir, we want to believe that your familiarity with the Rivers terrain as DPO in several stations and now as CP, has helped in the success recorded so far. If by tomorrow you are posted out of Rivers State, what will you remember Rivers State for?
CP: I will remember Rivers State. I know Rivers State as a peculiar State, one of the most important states which has a lot to do with the economy of this country. I will remember Rivers people for being wonderful set of Nigerians, friendly and ever ready to assist. I will remember members of the State for giving me all the cooperation I need to do my job as a police officer.
I will want you to know that during my short stay (in Rivers State), I have been able to receive more awards. I got award as the Best CP of the Year just within a short stay. That was possible with the assistance and cooperation of the people of Rivers State.
If I have to come back to work in Rivers again, if it is ever possible, I will not hesitate to come and work in this State.
It has been a wonderful place, the people know their rights, they fight for their rights and they assist security operatives.