SARS - A Response to Criminality

Remembering my stolen NWA tape back in the 90s and thieves stealing my treasured clothes during classes and surviving armed break-ins or waking up to discover that thieves have liberated electronics at home while we slept and many other episodes that caused untold pain and suffering has forced me to do a double take about some of the reasons for SARS brutality.

The reality is that Nigerians have become highly criminalized right from the secondary school level, very few can be trusted and even friends will join in scamming you and act all innocent as you lament.

These shocking incidents of stealing and criminality of Nigerians against each other has boiled tempers to the extreme action points were citizens take matters into their hands like the famous killing of the Aluu 4 youth by mob action.

In fact you can’t have scrolled through Facebook for any number of months without coming across mob and jungle justice being inflicted on apprehended thieves who are set ablaze to a roaring crowd.

As more episodes of kidnapping, carjacking, armed robbery and fraud have escalated, frustrated Nigerians have poured into police stations demanding better policing from an overwhelmed police necessitating the creation of special units like SARS.

The frightening reality Nigerians need to understand is that the Nigerian police force has very few investigative capabilities and infrastructure and sources to detect crime or sufficient surveillance of the population and it has no other option than to create units like SARS, FSARS, mobile police etc.

These units operate from a very limited playbook based on profile associations, which include young and rugged looking individuals are thieves, owns a cell phone and drives a car with no obvious signs of income, smoking Indian hemp, hanging out late at night and for what reason other than criminality etc to make arrests. 

So the roll out from their barracks and perform a sweep of crime neighborhoods and round up suspects including those reported by citizens and drag them back to their dungeons for interrogation.

Veterans of these units develop a sixth sense about whom fits their profile and even if they do not catch an individual in the act, they strongly believe until strenuously proven otherwise that you are guilty for many other crimes.

They interrogate these hapless victims and become enraged when they cannot get them to confess to any crime. 

The police commissioner barks from his office to all units after being verbally assaulted by Nigerians and the rank and file descend on entrapped victims in its cells beating them mercilessly to confess to match the quota of suspects to match the crime reports, it’s about statistics.

Unfortunately, the deteriorating economic situation ensures criminality continues unabated and SARS keeps on rounding up suspects, it’s a vicious cycle responsible for the systemic reports of SARS abuses across Nigeria in a form of sickening crime deterrence that is yet to be measured.

Elected officials have also resorted to extra judicial measures, some governors have resorted to destroying any property that is found to be harboring criminals or kidnap victims and others have withheld allocation to traditional rulers to check criminality but it’s still not enough to put a lid on criminality.

The truth is that hunger and despair have seriously eroded the ethical controls of Nigerians to an alarming degree and Nigerian leaders are playing with Fire by not displaying any sense of alacrity or competence in fixing the economy to stem this moral decline and decay.

Not only does Nigeria need an ethical campaign it also needs to re-educate Nigerians to express a stronger and more narrow attitude about the petty crimes we all watch Nigerians commit to the major crimes we observe but keep quiet about because of settlement.

A system of citizen intolerance and consternation of crime at the base level no matter the level of deprivation along with frantic government measures to target palliatives and welfare programs will go a long way in reducing criminality and reducing the needs for SARS units.

On that account the government needs to channel more resources into identity programs and crime detecting and surveillance and monitoring various red flag sources to be better at investigating and apprehending criminals without resorting to the gloved fist of brutality and extra judicial killings.

By Terhemba Osuji


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