ABOUT 258 policemen have been punished following complaints received from citizens by the Complaint Response Unit (CRU) of the Nigeria Police Force since 2015.
The Unit has received 14,976 complaints against erring policemen since it was established in 2015, out of which 11,567 complaints were resolved.
According to a document obtained by Punch, 31 policemen were dismissed while eight others were subjected to orderly room trials based on complaints received by the CRU.
The document also disclosed that a total of N55.6 million was returned to the owners after being recovered from defaulting policemen since the inception of the unit.
According to the document, the states with the highest number of complaints received in 2021 are: Lagos, 327 complaints, Federal Capital Territory, 210, Delta, 85 and Rivers, 80.
The CRU received a total of 1,244 complaints against policemen nationwide in 2021, out of which 876 have been resolved while 351 are currently being investigated.
According to the document, 25 of the complaints received against policemen in 2021 were found to be false, after investigations.
The document obtained from the CRU disclosed that the Rivers State Police Command recorded the highest number of cases of professional misconduct against police officers with 16 cases.
Others on the list are Abattoir in FHQ with 15 cases, FCT Command (13); Ikeja in Lagos (9); Alagbon in Lagos (5) Maitama Division in FCT (4); Kubwa Division in FCT (4); FESTAC Division in Lagos State (4) and Chouba Area Command in Rivers State (4).
The document said, “The Rivers State Command headquarters recorded the highest cases of demanding money for bail, while the top four formations accused of demanding money for bail were recorded in Rivers State. This indicates the need for review of leadership in these formations.
“The Rivers State Command headquarters recorded the most excessive use of force complaints nationwide, followed by the Meiran Division and state headquarters, Lagos, then FCT.”
