Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Zone 8, Babatunde Babaita has revealed that modern-day criminals have increasingly become more daring and ruthless.

AIG Babaita, however, said that law enforcement is embracing advanced tools and data analysis to maintain an upper hand in combating crime across the country.

The police chief said this in Ilorin, Kwara state capital during a meeting with traditional rulers, local hunters, vigilance groups and officers and men of the state police command as part of his two-day working tour of the command.

He said: “Criminals today are more sophisticated, more organized, and more ruthless than ever before. We will further leverage cutting-edge tools, data analysis and intelligence networks to stay one step ahead of those who seek to disrupt the peace.

“This we will do through a robust and effective human and technical intelligence gathering process to enhance our capacity.

“By harnessing the power of technology, we can make our streets safer, our investigations more efficient, and our communities more resilient. We cannot afford to be reactive; we must be proactive in our approaches by equally collaborating with other security agencies (both domestic and international) to strengthen our intelligence network and dismantle criminal enterprises from our midst.”

Babaita added that the recently introduced saver schools by the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun would soon take off, noting that the programme would “be of immense assistance in protecting our schools both the elementary and the tertiary schools across the country.

He added: “The safety of schools and educational institutions is of key concern to the police, which will continue to use all available human and material resources to mitigate the heightened danger students, staff and educational facilities/institutions are exposed to in the country in recent times.

“In order to have a more focused and robust response to the existing challenge of constant attacks on educational institutions, culminating in the abduction of students, the police have marshalled an action plan and designed a couple of strategies (both kinetic and non-kinetic) to prevent or checkmate such incidences from being a recurrent challenge in our polity.”

Earlier, the state police commissioner, Ebunoluwarotimi Adelesi disclosed that the task of maintaining and sustaining peace and security in the state is daunting, but the support of the traditional institutions in the state has helped in making our tasks easy.

She said: “I cannot but also mention that the synergy among security services in the state is top-notch when it comes to issues of collaboration to deal with security issues in the state.” (The Nation)

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