PSC Establishes an Investigation Department

 
After almost two and half years of its inauguration as the external oversight body on the police in Nigeria, the Police Service Commission (PSC) is set to launch its investigation department. The Investigation unit is among five departments statutorily provided for in section 9 (1) of the enabling act, the Police Service Commission (Establishment) Act 2001. The other four are: Legal Services; Research, Planning and Statistics; Administration and Personnel; and Finance and Supply.

The Investigation Department is responsible for handling complaints from members of the public against police misconduct as well as processing petitions from police officials challenging the fairness of the internal disciplinary procedures through which they were punished for offences against discipline. Part of the technical preparation for the launch of the department included the development of customized software for storing, tracking and retrieving complaints against police misconduct from members of the public; training of members of the Investigation department on the use of the software; and donation of two desktop computers and a laptop to support the work of the department.

These technical and equipment support were provided by the CLEEN Foundation and Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) under the project on strengthening the institutional capacity of the Police Service Commission, funded by OSJI. Other components of the three-phased project included organisation of a national workshop on civilian oversight of policing in Nigeria, which aimed creating awareness among the Nigeria public and stakeholders about the concept of civilian oversight of policing and the development of a strategic plan for the work of the Commission.

The police oversight workshop held at Chelsea Hotel, Abuja from September 24-27, 2003, and was organised by the PSC in collaboration with the CLEEN Foundation, Open Society Justice Initiative and Vera Institute of Justice in New York. Part funding for it was provided by the MacArthur Foundation. The opening ceremony was graced by the attendance of distinguished guests such as the representative of the President of Nigeria, Broderick Bozimo (the Minister of Police Affairs), the Senate President, the Federal Attorney General/Minister of Justice, Inspector General of Police and chairman Senate committee on Police Affairs and drew the participation of over 80 stakeholders from within and outside of Nigeria.

After paper presentations and extensive deliberations on them, the participants adopted a communiqué, which identified a number of priority areas for urgent attention by both the Federal government and the PSC. The federal government was called upon to:
 
o Provide adequate budgetary allocations for the work of the Police Service Commission and ensuring that such allocations when appropriated by the National Assembly are released on time to the Police Service Commission;

o Ensure that funding of the Police Service Commission is not considered as a lower budget priority than the police internal affairs;

o Ensure that the leadership of the police subordinates itself to the various oversight bodies on policing in Nigeria, such as the Police Service Commission, National Assembly, Ministry of Police Affairs, the courts, National Human Rights Commission, Anti-corruption Commission, Code of Conduct Bureau etc. in the discharge of their statutory duties;

o Promote interagency cooperation and collaboration between all the oversight bodies on policing and the Nigeria Police Force.

On its part, the Police Service Commission was asked to:

o Enhance its institutional capacity to carry out its functions by recruiting adequate and skilled professional staff, investing in manpower development, infrastructure and provision of adequate logistics for its staff in the discharge of their duties; and

o Establish an independent and internal investigation mechanism for the processing of citizens complaints against the police, as well as complaints from police personnel challenging the fairness of the internal disciplinary procedure through which they were punished.

The ongoing preparation for the launch of the PSC’s investigation department and the recently concluded recruitment of new professional staff into both the investigation department and other departments of the Commission are, therefore, carried out in fulfillment of the priorities areas of focus identified for the PSC by participants at the civilian oversight workshop.