CASES THAT ARE BEYOND POWER OF POLICE.
CASE 1
On November 24, 2023,l got a phone call from my nephew in relation to his friend who sold his laptop to a buyer he met online. They later met physically at a location. According to the brief from the seller, the buyer examined the laptop critically and expressed satisfaction, and the sum of #70,000 was paid for it. The buyer also sought another buyer, sold it, but the later buyer noticed technical error, and quickly reported to the first buyer. The said first buyer informed the seller, requesting for the intervention of the police. The said buyer arrested the seller and conveyed him to the police station. The cops detained the bike, and asked him to refund the money.
CASE 2
THIS CASE IS BEYOND THE POWER OF POLICE, SINCE THERE IS NO ELEMENT OF CRIME IN THE MATTER.
A poultry breeder was consulted by a woman who was interested in poultry enterprise; all the terms of the business were spelt out orally without legal counsel. Certain number of poultry was bought for the breeder. The poultry enterprise suffered casualties when a certain number of poultry died. The woman’s business partner engaged the service of police, which led to the arrest of the breeder and was detained for two days.
CASE 3.
THIS CASE IS BEYOND THE POWER OF POLICE, IT’S TOTALLY WRONG FOR THE POLICE TO MEDDLE IN THE MATTER.
I had a nice moment with my friends. When a neighbour was discussing an issue with him, l queried the reason behind the self-talk. The said landlord narrated the unexpected visit of the police in relation to failure to make payments of the house rent since the tenant has quit the apartment, hoping for the refund of the money.
LANDLORD/TENANT MATTER IS OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF DUTY OF POLICE.
In law, cases are basically classified into two – civil and criminal cases. Civil cases are transactions which do not have any elements of crime. Criminal cases related to crime. Under the law, the statutory duty of police is to prevent, vdetect, investigate and prosecute crimes.
In law, nothing is a crime unless a law declares it as a crime. Section 36(8) states “No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or omission that did not at the time it took place, constitute such an offence…. ln sec8(2) ACJA, “A suspect shall not be arrested merely on a civil wrong or breach of contract” Police do not have the authority to meddle into civil matters “..l will itemize some of these matters. (a) land matter.
It irritates me when police dabble in land dispute, requesting the aggrieved parties to present their title documents. This is beyond the power of police. Police are not empowered to involve business transactions; like the example cited in relation to poultry breeders and a woman that contracted with the said breeder.
Two people signed an agreement for the sale and supply of goods. The supplier released the goods while the buyer failed to pay. The matter is civil. It is beyond the scope of duty of police. In a nutshell, the police are not debt recovery agencies.
Omololu is a human rights activist.