The Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations of the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Muhammed Ari Ali, is a rare breed and a super cop, who knows his onion. Ali feels more at home leading his anti-robbery officers and men to the hideouts of hardened criminals in the dead of the night to effect their arrest. In this interview with MATTHEW DIKE, the DCP Ops speaks on his modus operandi for apprehending suspected criminals and other sundry issues. Excerpts:
On the war against crime such as armed robbery, cultism, rape among others, how prepared is your command in tackling these hydra-headed problems?
We are winning the war. We are making progress. I have taken the war to their dens. We are now at their door step. In Lagos I used to tell people that policing Lagos is not a tea party affair. If you must police Lagos State you must be on your toes 24 hours everyday. Every minute and every second something is happening somewhere in Lagos. Then the only way you can nip the problem in the bud is to take the war to the criminals’ dens. There is no rest for them because if a child says his father will not sleep, himself will not bat an eyelid. As the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations of the Lagos State Police Command, I have little or no time to unwind because of the peculiar nature of Lagos. Fighting crime in Lagos State must be holistic and total, otherwise crime and criminality will overwhelm the state. So, you need to take the war to their doorsteps and that will send jitters down their spines. They have to relocate from the state or the long arm of the law will catch up with them. We want the traditional rulers, religious leaders, and the youths to assist the police in this war against violent crimes. They should assist us by providing information. You remember about three weeks ago when we paraded over 200 cultists. The cultists were arrested and paraded at Ikorodu, Lagos. They were later charged to various law courts. As I speak with you now, they have been remanded. We have achieved many successes in reducing the number of cultists on the streets, as many of them have been arrested and charged to court. We were able to achieve that through the spirit of community policing and intelligence policing. The command also know the areas with high population of cultists in the metropolis. Places like Ajah, Ogombo, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Fadeyi, Mushin, Mile 12, Elere, Ikotun, Alaba -Rago, Okokomaiko, Dopemu, Ijanikin, and Iba are cult-infested areas from which the command is determined to flush out the cultists. You remember how we flushed out the Awawa Boys from Agege. You remember how as Area ‘B’ Apapa Commander, I chased out One Million Boys from Ajegunle and they relocated to Ikorodu area. We are going to sanitise these areas. We are going to send the miscreants where they belong- prisons. In most cases, I don’t just send my officers and men; as the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, I lead them to the scenes. We go after the violent criminals between 2am and 4am, when they are beginning to enjoy their sleep. We would pick them out of their dens and hideouts like snails and in most cases, without firing a single shot. It is usually better that way because there will be no escape route for them. Their criminal colleagues are sleeping in different hideouts or dens. They will have no back up or supporter(s) who would ginger them to attack the police or attempt to escape. We have arrested so many of them that way. In Ajegunle, Orile, Amukoko, Ijora, Ogombo, Ajah, Okokomaiko, Ikorodu, among other areas, I’ve led my men to. We succeeded in making arrests and some are still in hiding because of the strategies I introduced. We shall continue to raid the streets of hoodlums and social miscreants posing danger to innocent people. We do this through information provided to us by patriotic Nigerians. We adopt intelligence-led policing. It’s a philosophy of community policing.
What are the constraints of the Lagos State Police Command?
I want to first of all thank the Lagos State Government for the efforts in providing logistics or equipment. Lagos State remains the envy of other States in Nigeria in the area of providing logistics or equipment for the State Police Command.
Compared to other states, as I mentioned earlier in terms of support to Nigeria Police and other sister agencies in the fight against crime, Lagos State remains number one on the list.
The state government has done a lot by providing vehicles and other logistic, including gun boats, helicopters. But like Oliver Twist, we are still asking for more vehicles because of the wear and tear of these vehicles; some because of mechanical faults, some the spare parts are not available for sale in Nigeria. Some have had accidents because of movements. But I want to say that among our constraints is inadequate equipment. The equipment are there, but they are not sufficient. We have problem of manpower. Lagos is heavily populated and as such requires a lot of police officers and men to carry out the job in the metropolis.
Many civilians are complaining that when police see criminals committing violent crimes like armed robbery openly during day time, they hardly shoot. They seem to be lacking confidence in the police. What’s your take on this?
As a police officer, you don’t just shoot. Human life is sacrosanct. Before you shoot you must ask yourself some questions like whether it is right for you to do so or not. Whether the area is populated and conducive for you to aim at a target without hurting an innocent person because it is better for 1000 criminals to escape than for you to injure an innocent person. If you have to shoot, you must follow the ambit of the law. The Police Force Order, Section 237 has spelt it out. It is clearly stated why and when a policeman should make use of his firearms. If any of the condition spelt out can be justified, so be it, otherwise you cannot make use of your firearms. All police officers should be guided by this Police Force Order, Section 237. It will tell a police officer when it is justifiable to use firearms. The order is very good to protect the citizens. It restricts the police from extra- judicial killings.
I want to read riot act to all the criminals in Lagos State, especially armed robbers, cultists, rapists, among others, to desist from such crimes or relocate from Lagos because the long arm of the law will soon get to you. You will get caught in the web. Quit crime or be prepared to go to jail or get something worse
than that.
