The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase has urged officers and men of the Nigeria Police to engage more in intelligence driven investigation in their daily interaction with the public.

Arase said this in Lagos at the briefing of officers within the South-West Zone.

He stressed the need for Commissioners and Heads of Divisions in the Zone to move away from the old style of policing to intelligence based investigation.

“Once a matter is civil it is civil, when it is commercial it is commercial. The degree of the intervention of the police officer should be restricted strictly to the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution.

“If you cannot intervene and resolve the parties, then you should advise them to go to court. Situations where we arrest people and we allow the other parties to go and start demolishing their houses and taking over their properties will not be tolerated,” adding that “you must not criminalise commercial transaction,” he said.

The IGP further noted that “before you (police officers) arrest anyone in your various cells, especially the State CIDs, Divisional Crime Units and SARS, you must be able to assemble sufficient evidence, you must be able to convince yourself that as you are going to invite the parties, you have sufficient evidence to interrogate them with.

“Situations where you now arrest somebody and then begin to look for evidence, means you are in breach of the constitutional rights of the citizen,” he said.

Mr Arase also promised that his administration would work towards giving robust welfare for them.

With the re-opening of the Police Detective College, Enugu which, he said, has been shut over a year ago, it is expected that the incoming administration will invest in intelligence based training for officers so as to prepare them for the future.

•Sourced from Channels TV. Photo shows IGP Arase.