The Commissioner of Police in FCT, Mr Wilson Inalegwu has restated the command’s resolve to sanction officers for professional misconduct while carrying out their duties.
Inalegwu made the promise while responding to complaints of conflicts between journalists and the police at the Forum of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja chapter on Saturday.
“No matter the situation we find ourselves, we must remain professional in carrying out our duty.
“We will not hide any of our men that is highhanded in dealing with the public from being sanctioned.
“We are very concerned about the conduct of our officers,’’ he said.
He said that the command does not have any laws aimed at confronting journalists carrying out their legitimate duties.
“We don’t have any deliberate policy to harass journalists in the territory or elsewhere.
“For the society to develop, we must report issues as they come,’’ he said.
The commissioner said that there was the need for collaboration between the police and journalists to stop mutual suspicion.
He noted that intervention of members of the media had enhanced operations of the command severally.
On bail, Inalegwu warned that any officer caught demanding money before granting bail to an accused would be sanctioned.
“Any officer who asks for money for bail does that at his or her own risk,’’ he said.
He also warned officers to desist from being used by the public to recover debts.
“The police is not a debt recovery organisation, anyone who want to recover debts should approach the court of law,’’ he said.
He said that the command was collaborating with Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa and Kogi commands to check activities of criminals.
The commissioner adviced residents to go about their businesses as the FCT was the safest in the country. (NAN)