The FCT Command of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) says the Inspector-General of Police (I-G), Mr Olatunji Disu’s, position on filming of police officers is not an attempt to shield erring officers.
The Chairman of the FCT Command of PCRC, Dr Rufus Egbagba, said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
Disu had at a news conference cautioned Nigerians against recording police officers while performing their duties in public.
The I-G urged Nigerians to recognise that police officers don’t invade their offices to record them while carrying out their duties.
Egbagba said the growing practice of social media influencers filming police officers during stop-and-search operations, and in some cases while going about their personal lives had become a source of concern.
He said the development had raised important questions about accountability, privacy, and the proper conduct of police-public interactions.
“The I-G’s position should not be misread as an attempt to shield erring officers from accountability, and it is not a directive against recording police misconduct.
“The I-GP has never said that officers who act wrongly should not be recorded or reported. What is being called for is responsible engagement.
“Officers performing their lawful duties should be able to do so without unnecessary provocation, obstruction, or having every encounter turned into content for views and engagement,” he said.
According to him, where an officer is believed to have acted improperly, the appropriate response remains the same: preserve the evidence and report the matter through the proper channel.
He said the Nigeria Police Force had its Complaint Response Unit (CRU), where complaints against officers could be lodged, with video and other evidence could be submitted for investigation and appropriate action.
“Social media exposure should complement, not substitute for, formal investigation.
“A short video clip may not always capture the full context of an incident: what led up to it, what was said off-camera, or what followed.
“Yet once published, it can quickly shape public judgment against an individual officer or the Force as a whole, before the facts are established,” he said.
Egbagba said the Nigeria Police Force, like any other large institution, had its share of bad actors, and their conduct should never be excused.
He said the repeated recording and circulation of misconduct of a few could create a distorted impression that such behaviour defines the entire Nigeria Police Force.
According to him, this does little to serve genuine accountability, and it can also affect how Nigeria is perceived internationally.
He said the human dimension to the development was that many officers, posted to remote, isolated, and genuinely dangerous locations, rely on morale and public goodwill to sustain them in their service.
The PCRC boss said filming of officers without consent for entertainment or content purposes during ordinary or off-duty moments could undermine the morale.
“This is different from documenting misconduct; it is content-making at an individual’s expense, and it deserves to be called out as such,” he said.
(NAN)