EndSARS Protests: Make Operational Procedures Of Reformed ‘SARS’, Tactical Units Public -Security Experts

…Say FG Should Set Clear Mandate For New Outfit

Security experts have proffered ways on how to manage the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit of the Nigeria Police Force.

The experts, who stressed the importance of the unit as it fights crimes like armed robbery and kidnapping, believe that the unit needs to be well-planned with the operational procedure spelt out.

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had on Sunday, disbanded SARS following widespread protests by young Nigerians.

The dissolution came on the heels of allegations of extra-judicial killings, extortion and rights abuses by the operatives.

The dissolution wasn’t the first time the police force had banned SARS but the unit always sprang up after some time.

THE WHISTLER recalls that the police top hierarchy had, in December 2017, June 2018, January 2019 and in February this year, made similar pronouncements on SARS, including the immediate restructuring of the outfit.

A former IGP, Ibrahim Idris, while announcing a ban of SARS from conducting stop-and-search operations in December 2017, also promised to restructure and re-position the unit for effective service delivery.

The then IGP’s order in June 2018 was a ban on SARS from conducting stop and search operations on roads, followed by another order in August 2018 for an immediate overhauling of SARS in compliance with a directive by then acting President, Yemi Osinbajo.

In addition, the IGP ordered an immediate medical and psychological evaluation of all SARS officers and instant investigation into allegations, complaints and infractions levelled against personnel of SARS across the country by the IGP X-Squad of the force.

In January 2019, the current IGP disbanded the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS) and ordered state police commissioners to command the squads in their locations.

That same 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the IGP, Ministry of Justice and the National Human Rights Commission to work out modalities for the implementation of the report of the Presidential Panel on the Reform of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad within three months.

Among others, the panel had recommended the establishment of state and local government police and the renaming of SARS to Anti-Robbery Section (ARS), which was its original name and to make the section operate under the intelligence arm of the police.

The IGP had in February this year, announced and ordered the disbandment of SARS offices nationwide. The announcement followed the death of a Remo Stars Football club player, Tiamiyu Kazeem, alleged to have been caused by operatives of ZIS SARS, Obada-Oko, Abeokuta.

In an interview with THE WHISTLER on how best the unit can be managed to support the security needs of the country, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Austine Iwar, advised against retaining the name SARS if the IGP was going to form another squad to fight crimes like armed robbery and other violent high level crimes.

Iwar noted that the name had been abused and no longer respected.

He said: “The unit has been disbanded. The point is that the unit is a necessity. You need a unit that will fight high level crimes like robberies and kidnappings. It’s a very important responsibility, but obviously the unit failed to achieve the objectives for which it was formed and so the IGP did the right thing by disbanding it. Now disbandment here means that the individuals that constituted that unit have been removed. So if the IGP is going to form another unit to fight armed robberies and other high level crimes, it will not be good again to use the word SARS, because the name itself has been abused; it’s no more respected.

“So if the IGP is going to form another outfit to fight armed robberies, he’s going to give it another name and this time around it has to be well planned, developed and the people trained and well selected to form the unit. Every country has this type of unit. In the UK, they’re called Flying Squad. In South Africa, it is also called flying squad. The only thing now is that it’s going to be formed in such a way that people in that squad will be selected specially and undergo some training and some psychological tests to make sure that the people that are coming in have the right attitude, have the right behaviour, have the right skills and competence and also have the knowledge and even understanding of what the objectives are all about.”

Another security expert, Kabir Adamu, also argued that SARS was tactical unit and that global policing culture recognised importance of tactical units.

Adamu added that the operational procedure of SARS had not been spelt out or made public.

He also noted that the way to manage such a unit involved planning, organisation, structure, funding, equipping, deployment, monitoring, evaluation and several other management components.

He said: “There are well-established and acceptable means of managing tactical units, that’s the first point. SARS is a tactical unit and the global policing culture recognises the importance of tactical units. They’re globally acceptable policing units.

“However, the key is in managing them and by managing them like every management function, what you need is planning, organisation, structure, funding, equipping, deployment, monitoring and evaluation and several other management components.

“In this instance, the most important element is their operational procedure, what directive, what mandate have they been given? As far I am concerned, till date nobody has made public the operational procedure of SARS. How do they confront a suspect? What right does that suspect have and all that?  So those are the kinds of things I think are missing in management of tactical units in Nigeria, and going forward I hope it will be introduced in the management of tactical units in the country.

“Operational procedure means how do they go about doing their work? Let’s say they see on young man on the street and they suspect the young man, what does the law allow them to do? Does the law allow them to collect the person’s bag? Does the law allow them to take the person’s phone and go through it? Those are the kind of things that need to be made public and they have never been made public and that’s the point I am trying to make.

“Going forward, we want that to be made public, their operational procedure, any unit. SARS is just one of about 14 units that operates within the police. The other units like the IRT, name them. We need to know what their operational procedures are.

“Let’s remember that within the existing laws, there are what I will call draconian laws that allow the police to use force in Nigeria. They’re allowed to use force, but how they’re allowed to use force has not been mentioned in those laws. The second thing is the principles of necessity and proportionality. So if a policeman sees an unarmed person and he’s allowed to use force for whatever reason, the principle of necessity in other climes, for instance, says he can only use force when he’s protecting his life and the life of another citizen or proportionality, the person is holding, let’s say a stick and you’re holding an AK-47 rifle and then you shoot at the person on his chest or his head, when you can as well shoot at his hand to just make him numb and then you collect that weapon from him.

“So those principles are policing principles that, unfortunately in Nigeria are totally absent and they’re not just related to the tactical units, they’re related to the entire policing units and those are things that need to be addressed.”

On why it’s difficult for SARS to operate in a civil environment without some reports of harassment, rights abuses and extortion, Adamu said:

“There are lots of reason but I will start with the operational mandate like I mentioned earlier on. They were created without a clear mandate. And even if that mandate is clear, it has not been made public, so Nigerians don’t really understand the mandate of SARS. It’s beyond fighting crimes and armed robbery, that’s a generic mandate, but in terms of their operational procedure, how they go about fighting that, we don’t know.

“The second point is, when creating them, the culture and politics in Nigeria was not put into consideration. In any set up you need to take into consideration, the culture and politics. In Nigeria as an example, the huge mistrust between citizens and the police makes it absolutely necessary that when creating such a unit, you should close that gap and make Nigerians understand the functions of that unit and constantly review the functions of that unit so that they stay within the limits of the law.

“Beyond that the equipment at their disposal, you can not have a unit that is interacting with the public and not have equipment to use in a civil manner. All the SARS officer has is really his gun and bullets. So even when he’s confronted with a situation that he doesn’t need to use the bullet, he doesn’t have any option. So they have teaser guns as an example and they have other neutralisers they can deploy them and use them as against using the gun.”