The Police in Benue on Saturday warned unauthorised and untrained people against arresting members of the public under guise of enforcing security.
The Police spokesman in the state, ASP Austin Ezeani, gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Makurdi.
Ezeani was reacting to an illegal harassment and arrest of some residents by a vigilance group at a car washing centre.
He condemned the use of untrained people to carry out police functions.
“The DPO’s are not permitted to allow other people to usurp the duties of the police.
“Where they (police) engage such people for support, it should only be complementary roles and not to take over police work," Ezeani said.
The police spokesman said engaging people who were not trained to perform police duties, was harmful especially for the purpose of making arrests.
According to him, those to be arrested also have rights which ought to be respected and wondered how untrained people will respect such rights.
NAN reports that men of a vigilante group in the state have raided a car washing joint in Makurdi, beating and arresting its operators for allegedly harassing police officers.
A NAN correspondent who ran into the mob action along Ishaya Bakut road on Saturday in Makurdi, reports that the vigilantes numbered over 20.
They cordoned off the area during the raid.
One of the members of the group, who spoke to NAN, claimed that they were engaged by the police on a reprisal mission.
“We were engaged by the police to deal with the hoodlums who have constituted a nuisance to public peace in the area,’’ he said.
He claimed that the hoodlums had beaten up several police personnel who were detailed to arrest them on account of the breach of public peace.
The vigilance group members, who drove in a chartered commercial vehicle, later conveyed the suspects to the Area "B" Division police headquarters in High-level area of the metropolis. (NAN)
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