BENIN CITY-The Inspector-General of Police Mr Solomon Arase has advised officers of the Nigeria Police Force against criminalising civil offenses and undue dabbling into land matters as these attract civil litigation to the Force.
The IGP who was recently in Edo State on a two-day official visit stated this while addressing men and officers of the state police command at the command headquarters, Benin City.
The police boss disclosed that only the civil court has the constitutional powers to allocate land and not the police.
He however enjoined operatives of the command to always draw the thin line between what is civil, criminal and commercial when adopting alternative dispute resolution to issues that can degenerate into criminal matters.
“You cannot criminalise civil offenses, especially in Edo State, one of the issues I have had to tackle with is the incidence of you people (policemen) dabbling into land matters.
“The police does not have the constitutional powers to allocate land to anybody. You cannot do that. The only people that have the rights to do that is the civil court.
“But you can also adopt alternate dispute resolution when you discover that the issue of civil transaction or commercial transaction can degenerate into criminal matters.
“So, you people should be able to draw the thin line between what is civil, criminal and commercial”. IGP Arase stated.
Solomon Arase further maintained that the Police Force would be compare to take disciplinary measure against any officer found wanting in this regard.
