The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, who spoke today, June 25 at the ceremony for the handing over of the dogs, stressed: “Nigeria Police prides itself as having one of the most equipped, experienced, highly-trained, and functional K9 Section.
“They also have commendable antecedent of successful anti-crime, crowd control and civil disorder management operations in the country. Indeed, it is on record that the Nigeria Police Force Animal Branch has been instrumental to the training and development of similar branches for other security agencies in the country.”
He said that the initiative to deploy dogs to railway stations is within the context of Operation Puff Adder and is planned to complement the existing security measures emplaced for the security and safety of passengers and critical infrastructure of the Nigeria Railway Corporation across the country.
“The deployment of special breed and exceptionally-trained police dogs for security duties is as old as human civilization. Hence, their utilization in combating crimes and sundry internal security threats in the 21st century cannot be over emphasized.
“Indeed, K9 are known to possess extra-ordinary capacity for detection of Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs), narcotics and other illicit drugs, firearms and other prohibited items which criminals usually engage for the perfection of their criminal activities.
“The deployment of Police dogs is therefore meant for detection or prevention crimes along the railway corridors. Their brief shall be for patrols, surveillance, detection and apprehension of felons in and around railway facilities.”
The police boss said that his plan is to maximize the Force’s unique K9 strength to complement other sections that have been deployed as part of the broad policing architecture which it recently emplaced towards addressing the nation’s internal security challenges.
“It will be recalled that prior to this time, about one thousand additional police personnel were deployed to the Nigeria Police railway Command. This unprecedented deployment was designed to address the manpower gap of the Command and reposition them to address vulnerabilities, projected threats, and security challenges which the increasing human traffic and expanding assets of the Nigeria Railway Corporation may present.”
Mohammed gave assurance that all the assets of the Police would continually be mobilized and deployed towards denying criminal elements of any space to operate in any location in the country.
“We however, continually solicit the cooperation of all. We encourage all citizens to embrace the concept of ‘if you see something, say something’. Indeed, our appeal now is ‘if you suspect something, say something’. This is a civil obligation of all citizens and this is the most potent weapon towards collectively winning the war against elements bent on threatening our security.”
