The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, has reduced the numbers of Policemen attached to each of the 36 states Governors, from 150 to 62.

President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier given the IGP the directive to prune the number of policemen attached to dignitaries, and redeploy all policemen withdrawn from the role to regular police duties.

Arase, who spoke in Lagos at the weekend, said the Police were worried that too many of their officers and men were doing jobs other than their core police duties, yet they were being promoted.

He added that usually when these policemen are deployed from these special assignments back to their core duties, they may have lost touch.

He also pointed that there is a decision to withdraw security from unauthorized persons who use police orderlies for personal aggrandizement rather than as a result of a real threat to their lives. Such people, he said, should find other ways to secure themselves.

The Police Service Commission said last week that a special squad would be deployed on the highways and airports to stop policemen doing illegal guard duties.

He added that 40,000 policemen across ranks were due to attend promotion courses which he would ensure as soon as funding is available.

Arase revealed that the recruitment of 10,000 policemen as announced by the Federal Government would have to wait till next year when there would be budget for it adding that only the best hands would be recruited to ensuring that people of integrity are hired.

He expressed his determination to build a data base crime investigation with the support of a $10millon grant from a foreign country.

“I assure you that I will leave the police better than I met it at the end of my tenure next year,” he said.

Janeth J