SARS Disbandment Created A Vacuum In Policing, SWAT Not Fully Operational – Police IG

The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba has revealed that the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) created a vacuum in policyng which has made it difficult to tackle most of the violent crimes in the country.

IGP Baba, who disclosed this at a media briefing on Thursday in Abuja., said that the replacement unit for SARS called the Special Weapon Tactical Team (SWAT)  has not become fully operational.

He said the morale of police officers in the country has been low since the #EndSARS protests, which led to the disbandment of SARS in October 2020.

The IGP said since the proscription of SARS, the planned replacement, SWAT, has not been able to fully take over, leaving a gap in the tackling of violent crimes from a position of strength.

“The security situation of the country has been significantly stabilise from time to time but we think if it is stabilising then are isolated insurgency coming from these zones in terms of attacks on police facilities and police personnel, even all law enforcement agencies including the military,” he said.

“Therefore, we decided to, one, rejig the morale of our personnel, which has been a little bit dampened since the #EndSARS thing went.

“With the proscription of SARS and establishment of SWAT, which has not been able to take off fully. We had a vacuum in tackling most of the violent crimes from our position of strength.”

On the planned recruitment of 10,000 new police personnel, he said the process has reached 70 percent and that the exercise is in compliance with the federal character principle.

 

KanyiDaily recalls that five months the former IGP Mohammed Adamu ordered the deployment of the newly instituted SWAT officers for routine patrols across the country.