Debt is a state of being under an obligation to pay or repay someone or something in return for something received and it requires a party known as the debtor, to pay money or any valuable property to the other party, referred to as the creditor. And while it is becoming a norm for people to use the police to recover debt, such an act is under the law an illegality.
There are many reasons why it is illegal to recover debts using the police or other forms of force to collects debts; the first thing to note is that owing debt is a civil wrong and not criminal wrong. This means that it is a civil matter and should be handled as such. As a result, the Police and other security agents may not have the power to arrest a debtor under legal provisions except the debtor incurred the debt through the commission of a crime.
Some have wondered why it is illegal to involve the Police in debt recovery and aside the fact that owing debt is not a crime, recovering debt through the police is an act of self help which isn’t allowed under the law.
What is self help? These can be defined as acts such as threats, harassments, oppression of the debtor as well as the use of thugs and other despicable acts including the use of Police because it is outside the bounds of law to involve them as they will use force and coercion for debt recovery against the provisions of the law. It is said that the police engages in this illegality because some officers have made it a business and usually collect a percentage from the amount of money recovered.
It should be noted that a court of competent jurisdiction has declared the act of using police for debt recovery as unlawful because the major duty of the police is detection of crime, protection of lives and properties amongst all others and mot debt recovery.
If you fall victim of a creditor that resorts to self help using the police, don’t fight back, what you should do is to contact a legal practitioner, who can commence an action against your debtor for enforcement of fundamental human rights, battery and false imprisonment among other crime the police may commit in the process of debt recovery.
Self-help is not advisable as the court frowns at extra-judicial measures at debt recovery. With the use of self-help, a debtor may successfully prosecute an action for the enforcement of his fundamental rights and for the award of punitive compensatory and monetary damages against the creditor. Thus, it is always advisable to follow due process when trying to recover a debt.
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