Police: What manner of Friend?

By Msonter Anzaa

There is a popular slogan in Nigeria about the police. We often say police is your friend.” I think it was coined during one of those futile attempts to re-brand the police and correct the mistrust that exists between the institution and the public. Not many officers themselves seem to bother about the slogan, and to many in the public, the concept of friendship with the police is curious and suspicious.

I was returning from Lagos in the night last year and had interesting experiences that demonstrate the level of suspicion that exists between the police and the public. One party sees the other as a necessary evil, and the other is at best indifferent. At one check-point in Ondo State manned by two or three officers dressed each in a red jacket, the driver of our vehicle was asked to come down. Immediately, the passengers began to grumble: “Iinstead of him to settle them and pass, he is wasting our time. Is it not only N200?”

“Open the boot,” one of the officers ordered.

“Na AIG get the motor,” our driver said, probably thinking he would be let go since the owner of the transport company was a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police.

“Com’on, open that thing. Say na AIG get am,” the officer shouted and the driver obeyed. “They even carry motor engine o,” he continued as he inspected the content of the boot.

“If something happen to you now, you no go say na armed robber?” the other officer queried. “Thank God say AIG get money go buy motor. Me self I dey pray make I get the money go buy am,” he continued.

Few minutes later, the driver was back and the vehicle moved on. I did not know how he and the officers had settled. Meanwhile, a business woman who sat beside me was not done. “These people, if they stop you, give them something. You think say, the work they do, easy?” At that point, I was disturbed. This behavior is typical of how easily we compromise and let corruption thrive endlessly in our country. “Madam,” I addressed her, almost irritated that a responsible-looking person like her would think that way at a time we are talking about fighting corruption and changing Nigeria. “These people are paid by the Nigerian state to do this job. If anyone is going to appreciate them, it should not be by force.” 

As we drove along, I thought about the experience. What manner of friends are the police? In fact, one of the most talkative officers had betrayed the level of indiscipline and corruption in the force. Apart from making contemptuous remarks about a retired senior officer of the force – it wasn’t actually about the person, but the office of the AIG – he also conveyed the impression that they could easily swap roles and rob our vehicle right there. Who would know? And if anyone knew, what would they do about it? The officers would simply board their vehicle and drive off, and it would be as good as though we were robbed by any robbery gang on the high way. Then I realized how much work we must do to restore professionalism, altruism and discipline in the police. A police officer must be loyal to his superiors even in his secret thoughts. I do not say this because the officers failed to give preferential treatment to the bus belonging to an AIG, but because of the manner they talked about the office. They sounded as though they would not even respect the AIG, if they had their way.

Two passengers who sat behind me began discussing the police. “You see police clashing with the army all the time,” one of them, a young army officer began. “And the clashes will continue because police do not respect anybody, even themselves. In the army, we respect ourselves. An officer will never fight a fellow officer in public. But police will even kill you and nothing will happen.” Then he offered a solution: train all policemen in one school so that they can interact with one another and continue in mutual respect even when deployed in the field. “The whole army in this country has only one training school. Every soldier you see has passed through that school. So we respect our seniors and colleagues. But police are trained in different places, so they don’t even know much about themselves.”

I was already concluding that the police are responsible for the lack of trust that exists between them and the public when we nearly overran another check-point mounted this time by a well-uniformed officer. He was not happy that the driver had not slowed down on sighting him. “Oga, you know wetin dey happen here,” our driver replied impatiently. “They rob here,” he ended with a tone that betrayed his lack of confidence in the ability of the officer to protect us should there be such an incident. I thought he was rude to the officer. Here was a gentleman of the law, standing by the roadside in the night in spite of all risks, to protect us, and yet where we should be grateful, our driver was openly unappreciative. Then I realized that both the police and the public are victims of the situation, and they would need strong institutional reform and attitudinal change to be able to work together as friends.