First female police spokesperson, Kolawole, resumes

• Says ‘I am not intimidated’

FOR those under the illusion that the first female Police Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) is intimidated with the reality of occupying an office never occupied by another female, Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Olabisi Kolawole, says “I am not intimidated.”

Kolawole, who made the statement yesterday in Abuja while taking over from her immediate predecessor, Emmanuel Ojukwu, who had been redeployed to Kogi State as Commissioner of Police (CP), said: “I am a trained police officer just like our male counterparts, what I will do differently is bring change in our work, especially as it relates to the perception of the public as to what we do as police officers.”

The Force PRO in her maiden speech seeks closer working relationship with the media, stating: “A police organisation that does not enjoy the patronage of the press cannot perform its constitutional obligations of maintaining the security of lives and property.

This is because whatever information that destroys or propagates the inability of the police inadvertently destroys the economy and development of a nation.”

She said the co-operation of the media and the police in actualising the vision of the current administration cannot be over-looked, as having a holistic understanding of the security situation in the country will better position practitioners for credible information dissemination.

Kolawole, therefore, pledged to give a listening ear to every report or concern that would be made known to her, especially those that address the quest for better policing and effective service delivery, saying that all she requires of the practitioners is “a balance reportage of all events involving the police and the Nigerian society.”

Meanwhile, the out-gone FPRO, while craving the co-operation of the media for his successor in office, said “he has no regret leaving the office for the new appointment, as it is all about service to fatherland and a call to duty.”