"People should endeavour to report every road traffic robbery to the police station"

The Lagos State Police Command is begging Lagosians to report every traffic robbery to the nearest police station, rather than sharing the news on social media.

According to the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Joseph Offor, this is because the force sees it as see it as a "cheap blackmail against the leadership of the Nigeria Police."

"People should endeavour to report every road traffic robbery to the police station so that we will know who to hold responsible. This will help us to strategise and come against those people behind the crimes. We are not denying the fact that we have a couple of traffic robberies here and there but we have arrested some of the suspects. We have also prevented some of them that were about to be committed. When somebody is a victim of a crime, he knows where to go. If you go to a police station to report, it will help us to have the statistics of crime being committed in that area; it will also help us in our planning. It will help us in our research but when people decide to report their cases to the social media, we see it as a cheap blackmail against the leadership of the Nigeria Police. And this is worrisome because it is not helping our statistics."

READ: Police arrests 3 traffic robbers

The Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, had a different reason for asking people to report to the police instead of social media.

His reason is that crimes reported on social media tend to be blown out of proportion, thereby causing residents to panic.

READ: Police arrests 5 traffic robbers in Lagos state

I think people report on social media because it get the most attention, do you agree?

Do you think people should report traffic robbery on social media or at police stations?