By Joseph Kingston, Calabar
The Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 6, Usman Sule Gonma, has advised officers under his command to regard human rights, explaining that democracy prospers when human rights are cherished.
AIG Gonma, who said this during a familiarization tour of the Cross River State Police Command, tasked men and officers of the police force to always show professionalism and work according to the constitution of the country.
“There is no democracy without human rights and we cannot pretend about this.
“Any policeman who still thinks that human rights are not serious needs to be educated that human rights are one of the tenets of democracy.
“You must be very professional, behave like a policeman at any given time. Professionalism should be your keyword and discipline should be your cardinal principle”, he said.
The AIG promised to channel the peculiar challenges and needs of the police force in the State to the Inspector General of Police, IGP, for intervention particularly the need to improve the marine sector.
Speaking earlier, the new Police Commissioner in the state, Aminu Alhassan, noted that although crime rate was drastically low in Cross River, rapid urbanization and development has brought in some emerging security threats.
He said the effectiveness of the command was being hampered by some challenges.
“The effectiveness of the command in discharging its statutory duties is being hampered by some challenges not unconnected with enhanced technological/electronic methods (tracking device) of policing.
“Though manpower shortage is all over the federation in Nigeria Police, that of Cross River is terrible and needs immediate redress”, he submitted.
