Police warn officers against misuse of weapons in Oyo

• 155 officers decorated with new ranks •’Operation Puff Adder’ inauguratedOYO State Police Command yesterday gave a stern warning against the misuse of firearms or weapons by its men and officers.It said stiffer penalty awaits any police officer found to have misused such weapons on the citizens they were hired to protect. The command also gave a marching order to the officers to flush out criminally-minded individuals professionally.Police Commissioner Shina Olukolu gave the warming yesterday at the inauguration of “Operation Puff Adder” at the Eleyele, Ibadan Police Headquarters, in line with the directive of the Inspector General of Police (IG) Mohammed Abubakar Adamu.The Police Commissioner said the IG had directed that every state replicate the inauguration of “Operation Puff Adder” to ensure that criminal elements are flushed out of the society.Olukolu said Nigerians were looking on to the police to effectively deal with crimes, adding that the ideas about how they should go about it varies.Notwithstanding, the Police Commissioner said officers must discharge their responsibility with utmost care and professionalism.“Therefore, the police force as a professional body must continually restrategise and ensure more result-oriented tactics employed or emplaced to combat crime. Today, there appear to be unwelcome high profile crimes such as kidnapping, assassination, armed robbery, farmer and herder’s clash, cattle rustling and other related crimes. These crimes are giving the Police High Command a great concern.“However, in these trying times coupled with insufficient logistics, the Force is resilient in curbing these crimes, restoring peace and providing adequate protection for the lives and properties of the good people of Oyo State and Nigeria,” he said.After the inauguration of the operation, he decorated 155 police officers, who were promoted to the next rank.The exited officers, who filed out one after the other to get decorated with their new ranks, were also counselled to exhibit professionalism in the course of their duties.The Police Commissioner reminded them that to whom much was given, much was expected.