Nigerian Police have set up a special squad to fight banditry, kidnapping and other manifestations of crimes in Ekiti State and and its environs.
The state Police Commissioner, Mr Tunde Mobayo, disclosed this while addressing journalists in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday.
He said the spontaneous cases of robbery and kidnapping were being perpetrated across borders.
Mobayo further disclosed that the squad would work in collaboration with all legal security apparatuses in Ekiti like the Amotekun Corps, Vigillante group and the Peace Corps, purposely to flush out criminals through community policing.
The CP, who succeeded Mr Asuquo Amba, who had been elevated to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police, said: “When I resumed office in Ekiti, I asked about the type of crime that is prevalent here, I inquired from my people.
“Ekiti State is one of the most fortunate states where crime rate is low. But the type of crimes we normally have here are spontaneous ones; like bank robbery, it is not even frequent, but we can’t because of this go and sleep.
“We also have occasional cases of kidnapping, but not frequent and we are also going to deal with that. Our stretegy has been that we have identified four major areas in our borders to be given security attention.
“I have established a special squad and provided them with a vehicle and put them out there to be responsive to people on issues of cross border banditry, they were not there to extort money from the citizens.
“The Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, has told us to carry on with community policing in our respective commands. I can’t do it alone. We are going to work with all stakeholders to secure of lives and property in Ekiti.
“I have an issue at Imesi Ekiti in Gbonyin now, we are going there to resolve it with the people there, who understand the terrain better than I do, that is in the spirit of community policing that will further make Ekiti safe for all of us”.
Mobayo warned his men and officers not to be uncivil in their conducts, urging them to exhibit professionalism while dealing with the public in order not give the police a bad and dented image.
“I have told my men that they should be friendly with the people. We are no longer in the old era where you think you can maltreat the people and go scot-free or think the people are not watching what you are doing.
“In the task of making our state safe, I am ready to work with all security networks that have legal backings from the local government to the state level provided it is the state that set such outfit up, we are ready to recognise and abide by it as long as it doesn’t contravene the federal law”.
He, however, stressed the need for the citizenry to always be law abiding and security conscious as well as partner the police in ensuring a safe and peaceful society.