Chairman, Police Service Commission (PSC), Dr Solomon Arase, has called for overhaul of the Special Constabulary across the country, stressing the need to change their uniform and scrap the services in states where they were not remunerated.

The recent call may not be unconnected with the unprofessional act by some special constabularies in Kano State. Some were reportedly extorting unsuspecting persons while in police uniform.

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, had in September, in Ibadan, Oyo State, said the Special Constabulary would be reviewed on the ground that it was not yielding the desired result.

Arase’s stance was made known by the Head, Press and Publicity, Ikechukwu Ani, in a statement made available to The Guardian.

He said: “The PSC is no longer comfortable with the organisation and operations of the Special Police Constabulary nationwide. The commission is already in contact with the IGP on the need to overhaul the organisation and operations of the outfit. There have been several reports of unprofessional conduct by officers of the outfit, a quasi-police formation created to assist in community policing.

“Reports of their unprofessional conduct ranges from high-handedness in dealing with citizens and bare-faced extortion on our roads and communities.

The commission calls for an entirely different set of uniforms for officers of the outfit that should be easily differentiated from that of the regular police officers. This, it noted, will help to track appropriately the conduct of men of the outfit and that of the regular police officers, and free the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from blames associated with misconduct of men of the outfit.”