The Police Public relations Officer for Anambra State Command, DSP Okechukwu Ali has stated that his command is working hard to ensure that every motorist, who is not empowered to use the siren, and who does so will be arrested.
Ali who was speaking to our correspondent on the indiscriminate use of the siren by unauthorized persons in the state, thereby scaring road users and causing unnecessary panic said that the command has not been resting in ensuring that defaulters were brought to book.
He denied that in most cases, those who flout the law on the use of siren were politicians who always had police escorts. He said that as a result of the enforcement by the police, there have been reduced cases of people flouting the order.
“Our men have been very proactive in this regard, our men from the operations department are constantly monitoring and enforcing this. We have clamped down on most of them on the road and also dismantled the siren.
“Right now, we are expecting a law from the Anambra State House of Assembly, to apportion charges for offenders of the law. As it is today, the law is in place in Anambra, but there is not law stating clearly the fines to be paid by the offenders. The law is underway, and we expect that soon we will have that.”
Ali stated that most of those who flout the law are people coming in from outside the state, who think that the enforcement is not as strict as it is in the states they are coming from.
“Here in Anambra, you cannot say that people who flout the law go with escorts because we have striped all those who are not authorized to have police escorts of such. We have withdrawn their orderlies, and in the same way we have also arrested and dismantled the sirens of offenders.”
Speaking on those empowered to use the siren, Ali said the ban on the use of siren has been effective for sometime now, and that currently, the Force Headquarters, through the Force Public Relations officer is planning sending to all the state commands the review of those empowered to use the siren in every state.
“As it stands now, we are still waiting for the new circular, but in Anambra State today, those who we know are empowered to use the siren are; the governor, deputy governor, speaker of the legislative house, security agencies, ambulance services on emergency.”
He said that anyone outside those listed is illegal, and that the police in the state will not hesitate to impound the vehicles and dismantle the siren in accordance with the law, pending when the house of assembly will impose fines on the offenders.
