By Emmanuel Antswen
Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG), Mr Isyaku Mohammed, has charged police officers in Benue to adopt proactive policing measures to prevent emerging crimes and enhance security across the state.
Mohammed, who is in charge of Training and Development and Coordinating DIG for the North-Central Geopolitical Zone, gave the advice in Makurdi during his engagement with officers of the command.
He said his visit was aimed at assessing the security situation in the state, providing necessary guidance and reporting findings to the police management team for appropriate action.
The DIG charged officers to embrace proactive policing rather than reactive responses to crime and criminality.
He also directed personnel to strictly enforce the use of vehicle number plates as part of efforts to strengthen security and improve crime detection.
Mohammed further encouraged officers to sustain collaboration with other security agencies and neighbouring police commands to enhance intelligence sharing and effective policing operations.
Earlier, the Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) of Police in charge of Zone 4, Mr Morris Dankombo, said the visit would enable officers to learn modern policing techniques and receive directives from the Inspector-General of Police aimed at improving policing operations.
Dankombo expressed appreciation for the DIG’s visit, noting that it had boosted the morale and confidence of officers and men of the command.
The AIG assured the DIG that personnel within the zone remained committed, disciplined and operationally prepared to protect lives and property, maintain law and order and ensure public safety.
He, however, highlighted challenges facing the command, including inadequate logistics, the need for modern crime-fighting equipment and improved welfare packages for officers.
According to him, addressing these challenges would significantly enhance operational efficiency and boost personnel morale.
Dankombo urged officers and men of the command to pay close attention to the DIG’s guidance and draw from his wealth of experience.
Also speaking, the Commissioner of Police (CP), Benue Command, Mr Cletus Nwadiogbu, said the farmers-herders conflict remained one of the major security challenges in the state.
He said the crisis was responsible for several violent incidents, including the recent killings in Yelwata.
He listed other prevalent crimes in the state as banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, murder and rape.
He explained that banditry and kidnapping in parts of the state had assumed a guerrilla-style pattern, with criminals emerging from forests to attack travellers, abduct victims and retreat into hideouts.
The CP said intelligence reports indicated that some of the criminal groups operate from camps located in forests around the Benue-Taraba border and other border communities.
He identified Katsina-Ala, Ukum and parts of Logo local government areas bordering Taraba State as major hotspots for banditry and kidnapping, while noting that similar security concerns exist around the Otukpo axis.
According to him, the command is working closely with local communities to obtain actionable intelligence to support security operations against criminal elements.
Nwadiogbu added that several requests made by the command to strengthen its operations had begun to yield positive results, including support from the police air component to enhance surveillance and rapid response capabilities. NAN
