James untied his necktie as he dropped into hisoffice seat, he had been out all morning with
members of his team. Earlier that day, he
received a call informing him about the discovery
of a dead body just by the gate of a house winch
was only few metres from the warehouse. The
body was later identified to be Mr Felix, the
manager of the warehouse.
After hours of roaming the estate and
interrogating people; especially those who stayed
in the house whose gate the body was found,
James and his team returned to the office with
no substantial clue about how the body was
dropped there.
"Do you care for juice?" Sandra asked as she
walked into the office with a gla.s.s cup and a
juice pack.
"No, thanks" James replied, adjusting himself on
the seat properly.
Just then Segun, the third occupant of the large
office walked in, he curtsied to James and
Sandra who were already seated before he
walked to his own table.
Segun and Sandra were the top officers in the
team headed by Inspector James and worked
closely with him at all times. Segun was the
officer who visited the injured man in the
hospital with James and was also the one who
called that morning to inform him about the body
that was found.
"Sir" Segun spoke up after watching hos boss for
sometime, he took a look at Sandra who was
busy with other things and looked less worried.
"It"s a pity that the security cameras around that
street aren"t working anymore, I think the
government has to do something quick about it, it
would have provided us with more information"
"Yea, the government has to do something about
it" James replied, wiping his face with an
handkerchief. "But I don"t think we would have
gotten much from it"
"Why do you say that sir?"
"I believe the body was laid there late in the
night; that"s why n.o.body saw them. The cameras
wouldn"t be able to show us clear images even if
it was recorded" James answered
"Hmm, that means they don"t just have to make
sure it"s working, they also have to improve the
quality of the cameras" Sandra joined.
"This is 2030 for G.o.d"s sake, how can these
things not be working properly? And they expect
the police to perform magic" Segun complained
bitterly. "Everything is just messed up in third
country, the government, it"s officials; nothing to
write home about"
"It is high time we stopped laying blames on the
government for our personal inefficiencies and
take responsibility for ourselves; our jobs" James
said, looking at Sandra and Segun"s faces one
after the other. "Fifteen years ago, Nigeria was
not like this; it was far worse, so we should be
grateful to G.o.d that we have a better
environment"
"But look at other countries sir" Segun argued.
"They use better technology to aid their security
systems, but here in Nigeria; the government
keeps misusing, funds and fabricating stories for
the public"
"No, you"re wrong Segun; things are far better
than they used to be" James maintained his
position. "Now we are living up to the name
"Giant of Africa", we are the best in Africa in
terms of technology and development and we
are doing better than several other non African
countries that used to be ahead of us"
"But we as the police needs some very vital
things for… "Segun was arguing when James
interrupted again.
"No Segun, we don"t have any excuse not to do
our job well. In years past, several criminal cases
like the ones we have now have been solved by
the police with very little level of technology or
even no technology at all. I believe if everyone
would play his part properly then we wouldn"t
have problems with our work" James said with
seriousness in his voice, totally silencing Segun
and Sandra as they pondered deeply on his
words.
The office was silent for some minutes; the
threeofficers got deeply engrossed with the
computers on their table.
"Boss" Segun called to James, he scratched his
head as he seemed to remember something. "I
think we need to look into this matter of the
guys on patrol that met those guys in the
midnight"
"We"re already doing that" James replied, ending
his typing on the keyboard. He looked towards
Sandra who was already looking at him too.
"Sandra, I told you to handle it"
"Yes sir, i checked the records just after we
came in this afternoon" Sandra answered. "There
was no record of any statement taken, I don"t
even think those driving the van were brought to
the station"
"What? But they said they were found laying
unconscious on the road" James questioned
"Yes,I think we have to take disciplinary action on
our men" Sandra suggested. "I believe they were
bribed, that"s why they didn"t do the right thing"
"Oh! You ask them to see me when they return
today" James ordered as he stood up from his
seat and walked towards the door. "We won"t
take it lightly with them if they were truly bribed,
they"ll be punished severely"