![Bail is free, stop paying police – AIG, HOTPEN](https://hotpen.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG-20240308-WA0013.jpg)
By Laraba Usman
Mr Okoro Julius-Alawari, Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 12, comprising of Bauchi and Gombe, has warned against the use of money to secure bail, saying that both the receiver and the giver are culpable.
He stated this in Gombe on Thursday during his familiarisation visit to the state Command.
According to him, it is indicated visibly at different locations in police stations that bail is free.
“Let the public know; nobody should give money for bail, giving and receiving money for bail is an offence,” he said.
He said, as a Divisional Police Officer, he had never collected money for bail from anybody and adding that anybody found wanting would be in trouble.
The AIG, while addressing the officers and men of the command, frowned at extortion and uncivil behaviour by some policemen while interacting with members of the public.
He also urged officers to collaborate with sister security agencies and eliminate rivalry, stressing that this would go a long way in ensuring peace.
Julius-Alawari commended Mr Hayatu Usman, the Commissioner of Police for Gombe, who he noted was working hard to ensure peace and stability in the state.
He assured him of his commitment to maintaining the peace enjoyed in Gombe calling on officers of the command to work assiduously to protect it.
Earlier in his welcome address, Usman said the collaborative efforts of the command had helped to entrench community policing.
He said the command had adopted an early warning system through surveillance and, thereby, assisting the police in unravelling the remote causes of crises and nipping it in the mud.