AIG to policemen: Conduct stop and search, not road blocks

Officers and men of Zone 6 Police Command have been ordered to conduct only stop and search on vehicles and not to mount road blocks on the highways at the yuletide.
Abubakar Marafa, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in-charge of Zone 6, Calabar, gave the directive on Wednesday during a familiarisation tour of the Cross River State Cmmand.
Marafa said crime fighting was more effective through intelligence gathering and not by mounting road blocks, which impede smooth flow of traffic and used to extort money from motorists.
He reiterated that mounting of road blocks by the police was illegal.
Marafa said: “We are in a digital era, and crime fighting has gone beyond the confines of blocking the road to collect money from drivers and also slowing movement on the road.
“Stop and Search is a more effective way of combating crime because it is based on intelligence report.”
Marafa said a lot of people would be on the road travelling to different locations during the Christmas period, hence the duty of the police was to safeguard their lives by providing them with appropriate security.
He said: “We have to do our best to safeguard the lives of the people travelling during the Christmas period and not to slow down their movement by extorting money from them.”
He urged policemen not to act beggarly but to be courageous while confronting suspects during their stop and search operation.
Jimoh Ozi-Obeh, the Commissioner of Police in the state, said the command had put necessary measures in place to ensure a crime free Christmas in Calabar and also during carnival.
Ozi-Obeh said the command would not relent in its efforts in fighting criminals in the state.