Police deploys special protection squad to schools in Kano

The Kano command of the Nigeria Police has deployed a special protection squad to safeguard learning activities in schools and other educational institutions across the Northwest state.

The special squad which is made of sixty carefully selected officers are said to be the first set of class police personnel assembled by the office of the Inspector-General of Police, in Abuja, to counter the kidnapping of students in schools in Nigeria.

Inaugurating the squad Thursday in Kano,  Mohammad U. Gumel, commissioner of Police in charge of the command, hinted that the special operatives are being deployed to their places of assignment to conduct a threat assessment.

He said that in addition to conducting threat assessment at their places of deployment, they will also be involved in providing train- the – trainer for other police, and security personnel that are to complement them.

“The launch of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) Schools Protection Squad (SPS) is the initiative of the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Adeolu Ebegtokim, PHD, to provide an adequately safe environment for schooling and protection of students, teachers, as well as schools facilities and critical infrastructures.

“The SPS comprised of inadequately trained police personnel who have been provided with the necessary kits and tools for the task are today being dispatched to intensify robust patrols around primary and secondary schools, as well as vulnerable tertiary institutions in all locations across each of the senatorial districts of the state”, the CP explained.

Providing insights into the operations of the Squad, Gumel disclosed that his command intends to deploy available technology as a way of complementing the activities of the efficiency of the squad.

He added that his command is also in a talk with the Netherlands-based not-for-profit organisation that has indicated an interest in partnering with it, to provide communication equipment that will boost the entire policing operations in the state.

Speaking on his one year as Kano state commissioner of police, he said that the police under him were able to arrest and prosecute more than 3000 suspected criminals for committing offences that range from kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery, human trafficking, illicit drug dealings, thuggery, and other social vices.

According to him, the breakdown of the arrested suspects shows that 337 of them were arrested for armed robbery, 66 for kidnapping, 90 for drug dealing, 83 for the thief of vehicles, 200 for petty stealing, 61 for fraud-related crimes, 9 for Illegal Forex hawking, and 2101 for thuggery.