Oyo State Government has organised a three-day workshop for the State Security Network Agency codenamed Amotekun Corps, on intelligence gathering.
Declaring the workshop open, Gov. Seyi Makinde said it had become imperative to apply intelligence gathering and analysis to the conventional method of fighting crime.
Makinde, represented by his Chief of Staff, Otunba Segun Ogunwuyi, said intelligence remained the most potent tool to stop crimes before they are committed.
He commended the leadership and men of the Amotekun Corps for their comportment and cooperation with other security agencies to secure lives and property of residents in the state.
“Security intelligence gathering is an act of collecting, standardising and analysing data.
“It is a great tool in crime prevention as it enables crimes to be nipped in the bud even before they are committed.
“It is important to apply intelligence gathering to the conventional method of fighting crime.
“If we just go about with guns and cutlasses and say we are fighting crime, I am sorry, we have not done anything.
“If we put our minds to gathering intelligence, a lot of crimes will not even be committed in the first place.
“So, that is why it is good for us to be at this workshop, hear from the experts and take that knowledge back home.
“The participants were selected from the 33 local government areas, which means we want safety across the board in the state.
“So, with the training, we expect them to go back home and become trainers of other Amotekun Corps,” Makinde said.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the training, retired Col. Olayanju maintained that at the end of the training, the Amotekun Corps’ approach to doing their jobs would be different.
“I expect that, after this training, when they hear there are cases of kidnapping in a particular area, they should be able to go out there, sieve and process such information and come out with an intelligence which would be used to plan how to intercept the kidnappers.
“Another importance of what we are doing is, we do not, in most cases, want to be reactive; we don’t want crime to take place before we take action.
“They will now know that it is cost-effective for them to prevent crime and the only way they can do that is to be able to detect the crime before it takes place,” Olayanju said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
