The Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ahmed Sanusi, has urged residents, particularly youths, to resist any attempt by police officers to search their mobile phones during stop-and-search operations.
Sanusi said such searches were against the directive of the Inspector-General of Police and should not be allowed.
The police commissioner made this known during a press conference shared by News Central Television on Tuesday.
He explained that the directive was issued because of alleged cases of abuse and extortion involving some police officers and personnel of other security agencies.
According to Sanusi, police officers are not permitted to randomly stop members of the public and demand access to their mobile phones.
He said, “The issue of phone searching has been clearly stated. Due to the abuse and extortion tendencies of some officers and men, not only of the Police but even other sister agencies, it has been instructed that nobody should search any phone.”
The CP, however, acknowledged that mobile phones could be useful in criminal investigations, especially when they were suspected to have been used to commit an offence.
He explained that such searches could only be conducted after a suspect had been lawfully arrested and taken to a police station.
Sanusi said, “This does not negate the fact that phones are also being used to commit crime. But before such a thing can happen, the person must have committed the crime, must have been properly arrested and brought to the station.”
He added, “Then, when trying to uncover some evidence, you can now start searching to see whether the phone or other items have been used to commit or perpetrate such crime.”
The commissioner stressed that police officers could not simply stop people on the road and demand to inspect their phones based on suspicion that they were involved in internet fraud or other criminal activities.
He said officers who acted in such a manner would be violating the directive of the Inspector-General of Police.
‘Don’t Open Your Phones’
Sanusi advised residents to stand their ground when confronted by police officers demanding to search their phones without following due process.
He said, “But for you to just stop anybody on the road and say, ‘Bring your phone, let me search. Or, you have so and so amount on your phone’, any policeman who stops you on the road, according to the instructions of the Inspector-General of Police, we are bound to obey to the last of it. Don’t agree. Don’t open your phones. Resist.”
The CP, however, advised residents to seek help from the police rather than engage in a confrontation with officers.
Sanusi urged anyone confronted by officers demanding to search their phones to contact the police emergency line or seek the assistance of nearby police personnel.
He said, “Ask the nearby people to help you call the police emergency landline. You will see our men there, and then we will ask them why, provided they are within the FCT. If they are outside the FCT, then you will call your Command CP.”
He said the FCT Police Command remained committed to enforcing the Inspector-General’s directive and would not tolerate officers who violated the order.
The commissioner warned that officers found violating the directive would face disciplinary measures.
He said, “So I can tell you for free that we are still against that. We still stand against that. We will still enforce the IG’s directive.”
Sanusi alleged that some officers continued to engage in the practice because of their alleged criminal tendencies.
He added, “Some of them are on the attack because they are criminally minded. They want to perpetuate such acts. If we get them, they will face disciplinary actions and will be made to face the consequences.”
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