The Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr. John Abang has commissioned a newly-built statement taking room at the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, Unit , Awkuzu, Oyi Council Area.
The project, constructed in partnership with the Rule of Law and Anti-corruption RoLAC, Programme in Anambra State, and funded by the European Union, is designed to address shortcomings in the effective dispensation of criminal justice processes through interrogations.
The three-room block houses two interrogation rooms and one equipment room, with CCTV cameras and other basic equipment fully installed in them.
RoLAC had also prepared officers for the project by training the Intelligence Police Officers, IPOs on basic skills in statement taking.
There was also a mock demonstration of interrogation techniques by officers who had undergone the training, to demonstrate how the new system works.
In her opening remark, the Anambra State Coordinator of ROLAC, Mrs Josephine Onah, said the project would advance the course of effective criminal justice system in interviewing and interrogating crime suspects, in a manner that discourages torture and trampling on their fundamental human rights.
She commended the immense cooperation of Anambra State Police Command in setting up the project, adding that her Agency will take full oversight of activities of the statement taking room.
Commissioning the project, the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr Abang, said the project I SD inline with the proactive crime fighting models of the Inspector General of Police, and appealed to to sponsors of the project to extend it to other important police units in Anambra State.
On his part, the Chairman of the Anambra State Justice Sector Reform Team, Justice Peter Obiora, said that the statements that would be generated from the rooms would go a long way in changing the narrative of prosecutions.
The Officer in charge of SARS, Awkuzu, CSO Patrick Agbazue, in his remarks, disclosed that the Statement Taking Room would give better approach and veracity to information that would help court processes, and pledged that it would be used optimally.
Representatives of the Attorney General of Anambra State, Nigerian Bar Association, Anambra state, the Controller, Nigerian Correctional Services and officers of SARS Anambra State, were all in attendance.
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