AYO ESAN
THE Lagos State Police Command disclosed on Thursday that with its renewed efforts at effectively combating crime in the state, a total of 1,181 armed robbers were arrested while 27 were killed, in various operations, between October 2019 and September 2020.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Hakeem Odumosu, who disclosed this, noted that the Command also foiled 273 robbery cases within the period.
Odumosu revealed this in an extensive report of security activities across the state in the last 12 months, presented to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the 14th Town Hall meeting on security held at the Civic Centre on Victoria Island, Lagos.
At the yearly event with the theme, “Lagos Security: Resilience in the Face Adversity”, organised by the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, the Commissioner said his men rose to the occasion of effectively combating crimes in Lagos because of constant logistics supplies from the State Government.
Despite the trauma the police personnel went through during the #EndSARS protests, the police chief said the Command re-mobilised officers to guard troubled communities where police stations were burnt and destroyed.
He said the State recorded a sharp decline in kidnapping in the past year, an effort he linked to improved intelligence-driven operations.
He, however, said cases of cultism and drug abuse were on the rise, promising to beam focus on the issues, The Point reports.
Executive Secretary, LSSTF, AbdulRazaq Balogun, observed that there was a decline in donations to the Funds in the current year, a factor he linked to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and establishment of similar trust fund agencies by other States.
He said LSSTF had provided 90 patrol vehicles and six units of outboard engine boats for security operations across the State in addition to logistics support provided for the personnel.
“There is a need to acquire more equipment, particularly crowd control assets. Lagos has always set the pace for other states. We deserve to have a security architecture that can withstand any form of adversity,” Balogun said.
