Rape cases are not treated with kids gloves at police command - Lagos state PPRO Dolapo

Dolapo Opeyemi Badmos, is a Superintendent of Police (SP) and the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of Lagos State Police Command, since she joined the Force on 15 August, 2002, as an Assistant Superintendent of Police (Course 21 batch) and trained at Police Academy, Wudil, Kano, the graduate of Accounting who also holds a post-graduate degree in Public Administration has served in various capacity. In this chat with Esther Onyegbula, the mother of two talks about how the command is handling rape cases in the state, raiding of criminal hideout in the state, congestion of cells and the controversy trailing bail is free.

We keep hearing of rape here and there in the state, is it that there is an increase or that people are now aware of the right to seek redress?

I don’t see it as an increase, I see it as a fact that people are now aware of their right, people now speak out, come up when they are been abused and they say it and they report to appropriate authority. So let me just say it and they report. The level of report is on the increase and not increase of rape itself. The Lagos command, salutatory have the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIID who is suppose to be in charge of all cases of rape but right now the Lagos state police command have gone as far as having three specific divisions that have female staffs that are trained specially on how to handle rape case and charge such cases to court.
Dolapo Badmus
Dolapo Badmus

Not going through State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIID or slowing down the process that is why we have decided to empower the divisions to handle such cases. The divisions include, Isokoko division, the Adeniji jones division and the Ilupeju divisions have been been adequately empowered to investigate, rapes cases and charge culprits to court.

Rape cases within these axis don’t need to be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIID. And the Commissioner of Police CP Fatai Owoseni is not taking cases of rape with kids gloves. You are aware of the case of a church deacon and was sleeping with a 7-year-old girl, the commissioner of police interviewed him personally and he insisted that the investigation must be done speedily and as I am talking to you the man is already cooling his heels in Kiri-kiri that is to let you know that the Command is not joking with the case of rape of any nature.

How does the police determine who is a criminal or not after a raiding operation ?
Let me first of all tell you that raiding is a form of getting rid of criminals in a particular place or spot. There are operational guidelines for raiding. It is done when police officers have reasons to suspect that in such area, they can do on the spot raiding of black spot and areas that are prone to criminality. When police officers raid a particular place or spot, it is pertinent that the officer in charge should actually determine who is answerable to the law and how do you go about that.

After raiding, what is expected afterwards is screening of the people. And this is done by asking them where they work, where they stay, if they have any form of identification. And if they do, you make verification. For instance, if the person in question works in an organisation and has an identity card to show, you can place a call to the company for them to confirm if he is a staff of the company.

Searching the abode of the suspect

But, if the officer is still not convinced because he was picked at a criminal hideout or near a place where it is reported that robbers are always converging for their operation, the officer can still proceed to search the abode of the suspect and if the police discovers that you don’t have anything incriminating, at that point, the officer is duty bound to let the suspect go.

Depending on the time the arrest took place, this process should not take more than two/ three hours at most and then you set the person free. But, if the person is found wanting or you find anything incriminating, you make the person face prosecution according to the law.

Bail is free doesn’t seem to apply to most Police Divisional Headquarters, why is this so?
We always tell people that they should not be quick to seek for bail, even at that point when you are hoodwinked by any of the officers and you don’t have a choice. Put their name in your memory or have a way of writing it down and after you have come out of their hook,you let the authority know and you will see that the authority will move in spontaneously. The authority of the police abhors taking bail money.

Money must not exchange hands under whatever guise in the police station. The leadership of the police insists that bail is free. It is stated in the constitution and it is meant to be obeyed. So, we are imploring people to report anything of such nature.

How often does the command inspect the cells in the divisional police stations to curb congestion and excesses of policemen there?

We have the Inspector- General of Police monitoring unit. We have the Lagos state Commissioner of Police monitoring unit. They go all out to monitor activities in the cells from time to time. We have also partnered with non-governmental organisations that also assist in inspecting the state of the cells in different divisions.

So, it is not only police that does that and we are still open to partnering with any organisation in that respect.