The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Olohundare, has reacted to allegations of the Tactical Squad harassing Lagosians like the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

In an exclusive chat with The Guardian, he said: “The Tactical Squad is under the supervision of my command; they don’t work on their own or in isolation. I want to correct the impression that Tactical Squad is like SARS. Tactical Squad operational modality differs, and the officers have been human rights compliant.

“There is no doubt that people enforcing the law face criticism. You can suspect some collaboration with the people committing the crime in this criticism. The Tactical Squad has stood out in reducing violent crime in the state, and quite a number of hot spots and black spots have been liberalised, and people are doing their business peacefully. There could be one or two excesses, but we are doing our best to ensure that the excesses are properly corrected.”

The Commissioner also said his leadership is building on the gains he met when he assumed office as Lagos CP in February 2025, stressing, “Prevention is better than cure, so we work more on prevention because you have less crime to deal with when we prevent, and we try to reach out to communities, mostly through the media and public forums.”

He said: “I was greeted with the assistance and support of the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, when I came on board. I appreciate the Lagos State Governor for his immense support, which has made our job easier.

“We have created an intervention team to complement the work of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), and it’s not going to be a rival to RRS.”

The Deputy Commander of RRS is now the Commander of the Eko Strike Force (ESF). They are working in synergy to ensure that we achieve the same results.

“Equally, I met 21 Tactical Squad teams, and I have strengthened and increased them to 30 to cover the nooks and crannies of the state. We have a zero rate of kidnapping in the state.”

When asked about the kidnapping in Ijede, Ikorodu, he said: “The Ijede incident is just a one-off incident. Ijede used to be under the Imota Tactical Squad, but I have now created a separate Tactical Squad for Ijede.

Ijede is a community inside the creek, and people who commit such crimes are within the community. Since I resumed more than four months ago, Ijede is the only incident we have had. With the creation of the Tactical Squad designated for Ijede, it has brought it to a zero level, and members of the community are happy because many commendation letters have been sent to my office.”

The CP said the crime rate in the state is very low, and the command will build on the successes and sustain the tempo to ensure that every Lagosian, Nigerian, and foreigner who passes through Lagos or comes to Lagos to do business is safe.