Embrace community policing – CP tells Ondo residents
CP Felix Ohagwu, Ondo Command
By Adetokunbo Abiola
The Commissioner of Police in Ondo State, Felix Ohagwu, has urged residents of the state to embrace the principle of community policing, by reporting criminal activities when they saw it, as security was a collective responsibility to make the state safer.
Ohagwu said this during an interactive session with journalists in Akure, the state capital, to discuss pertinent issues affecting residents of the state..
He said the media also had a critical role on the issue of security, by promoting positive values and discouraging criminal behaviour with relevant reports.
He said there was a crucial need to revive campaigns and enlightenment programmes that helped shape positive societal values in the past.
Identifying Akure North as a major kidnapping flashpoint, he disclosed that the police had mapped out crime-prone areas across the state and were intensifying efforts to dismantle criminal syndicates operating within Ondo and neighbouring states.
On his priorities as a Commissioner of Police, he said they were transparent policing, accountability, respect for human rights and strengthening community partnership.
He said the new Police Act placed the police at the forefront of protecting the rights of citizens, including suspects, and that he intended to ensure that policing in Ondo State aligned with the principles of the people-oriented law.
Concerning speculations that kidnappers use markets such as Shasha Market to obtain food and move funds, he said his command was monitoring activities around Shasha Market and other markets along that corridor.
“There are various theories regarding how criminals obtain supplies and move resources. We are studying these activities carefully while ensuring that we respect the fundamental rights of innocent citizens,” he said.
He said his command was implementing strategies based on intelligence gathering and surveillance, as well as making efforts to improve its technological capabilities, including the deployment of drones and other security tools, through the support of the state government.
