In view of the spate of kidnapping, armed robbery and other related crimes in Kaduna state, the new Commissioner of Police; Austin Iwar has assured residents that 80 percent of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) personnel will be deployed to fight crime in the state.
The CP gave the assurance at his maiden press conference on Thursday in Kaduna where he further assured that a robust strategy will be adopted by the command to flush out kidnappers and related violent crimes from the state.
He said, “The policeman is not expected to be in an office but should be on the streets ensuring that there is protection of live and property and that is why I will deploy 80 per cent of the commands personnel to fight crime on the streets and every nook and cranny in the state while the remaining 20 per cent will steer the affairs of the command.
“Areas that have redundant personnel, we will push them into the streets. As time goes on, there will be visibility of more policemen on the roads. There has been so much of reactive policing and we want to balance that with active policing.
“We will develop strategies to deal with security challenges by involving our communities through partnership and there will be massive community engagement.
It will focus on but not restricted to crime management.”
On kidnapping in the state, the CP said, “While we are dealing with kidnapping, we will also extensively deploy proactive strategies that will enlighten the public on how to prevent themselves from being kidnapped as well as removing opportunities for kidnap.
He vowed that the command would deal decisively with trouble makers in the state and assured that he will carry every stakeholder along in ensuring that Kaduna is crime free.
He urged officers and men to maintain high level of discipline at all times saying, “Personnel must exhibit high discipline and standards at all times. Indiscipline will be meted out with sanction and punishment at all times.”
He appealed to the people of Kaduna State to give them their maximum cooperation to serve them better.
The outgone CP, Agyole Abeh thanked the Kaduna State Government for the support given to the New Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, CP Austin Iwar him and urged that same be accorded the new CP.