NIgerian Police Reveals 5 Important Facts About The Newly-Created Tactical Team ‘SWAT’

The Nigerian Police Force on Wednesday came out with five important facts about the newly-created Special Weapons and Tactical (SWAT) team.

KanyiDaily recalls that the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had announced that the SWAT team will replace the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) which was disbanded following nationwide protests over its brutality, illegal arrest, extortion, extra-judicial killings, among others.

However, many Nigerians have kicked against the new police unit, saying that the new SWAT team will not be different from the disbanded SARS since the same officers will run the same unit.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, the police said the new unit has five cardinal points as its mandate which includes that no former SARS officers will be a part of the newly-created SWAT team.

The police also announced that members of the new outfit will not embark on routine patrols and are barred from searching people’s phones, laptops and other devices.

According to the police in the Tweet entitled: “Important Facts about the newly-created tactical team,” the police highlighted the five facts to include:

1. No personnel of the defunct SARS will be selected to be part of the new tactical team.
2. Operations of the new tactical team will be strictly intelligence-driven.
3. Members of the new tactical team will by no means embark on routine patrols.
4. Members of the new tactical team are barred from an indiscriminate and unlawful search of phones, laptops and other smart devices.
5. Operatives of the new tactical team must be free of any pending disciplinary matter especially those touching on misuse of firearms and abuse of human rights.

The Police The force also added that the mandate of the new team include:

1. Response to robbery attacks
2. Response to scenes of weapon-related crimes
3. Rescue operations
4. Special operations involving high profile criminals.

kanyiDaily recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari had assured Nigerians that the disbandment of SARS was the first step to “extensive police reforms”.