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Tag: community policing’

  • Police chief canvasses community policing

    Oyo State Commissioner of Police Damilola Adegbuyi has recommended community policing as an effective strategy to tackle crime.

    He spoke at the weekend when the Chief Executive Officer of Adesun Security outfit in Ibadan, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, visited his office.

    “I am of the opinion that community policing should be introduced in this state so that criminality can be stamped out,” he said.

    The commissioner said he would provide adequate security for the state, promising to do his best.

    Adegbuyi urged the people to join hands in fighting insecurity; be it kidnapping, cultism by students, as well as other heinous crimes.

    Adeyemo also canvassed support for the police towards enhancing capacity in the area of intelligence, special operations and investigation.

    The security chief said the police needed to be encouraged, and not condemned by all.

    He hailed the Oyo State Police Command under Adegbuyi for its efforts at curbing activities of criminals and crime across the state.

    Adeyemo said since Adegbuyi took over in the state, there had been changes, adding that Adegbuyi did well when he was in charge of Maritime in Lagos, and will definitely use his experience and professionalism to solve insecurity in the state.

  • Ekwueme, others hail IGP on community policing

    Ekwueme, others hail IGP on community policing

    Former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano and the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnamemeka Achebe, yesterday hailed Inspector-General of Police (IGP) for establishing community policing across the country.

    The frontline Anambra sons spoke yesterday at the inauguration of the state’s Eminent Persons Forum (EPM), which has the right to arrest suspected criminals in any part of the state.

    The trio hailed Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris for establishing community policing.

    They noted that it would help to flush out criminality from the society.

    The event, which took place at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre in Awka, the state capital, was attended by traditional rulers, presidents-general of 177 communities in Anambra State, among others.

    Inaugurating the forum, Governor Obiano, who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Nkem Okeke, was assisted by Police Commissioner Sam Okaula.

    Addressing reporters after the inauguration, Dr Ekwueme noted that with the arrangement, many communities would be safe from criminality.

    The former vice president said though the state had been crime-free, the establishment of the EPM would further boost security.

    He said: “With the people of communities, the work of the police will no longer be cumbersome. As such, bad eggs in any community will be fished out. This is a laudable programme in our society.

    “This time, it’s being configured in such a way that work of crime prevention is not being left alone for the police. It has been a long muted idea.”

    Igwe Achebe urged the divisional police officers (DPOs) to tighten security in their areas, adding that the number of rapes was alarming in some communities.

    The monarch, who was represented by the Ajie of Onitsha, Chief B. O. Adibua, said community policing could solve security challenges across the country.

    He said the programme had been experimented before without success, adding that the time had come to help states and Federal governments to tackle security challenges in the land.

    Okaula praised Obiano for what he called his passionate commitment to security, safety, law and order and for providing the platform for security agencies in the state.

    The police chief described Anambra as the safest state in the country, adding that with the inauguration of the forum, the state would continue to witness peace and for its development.

    He said: “May I use this opportunity to make a clarion call to all and remind you that crime and criminality thrive only where good people decide to keep mute.

    “Crime will continue to soar to high heavens where the public continues to see the police as its enemy. Criminals would continue to rape justice with impunity if you refuse to pass useful information to the police.” Okaula said.

    Obiano said the security of lives and property was key to development of any state or country.

    He said community policing was a process that must continue, adding that his administration was ready to work with the police and other security agencies to make Anambra a safer place for its residents.

     

  • Police advise Nigerians on community policing

    Police advise Nigerians on community policing

    The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, has advised Nigerians to embrace community policing.

    Arase gave the advice in Ogun State during the stakeholders’ meeting organised by the Ogun State Police Command for the residents at Connect Event Centre, Ijako in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area. He was represented by the Sango Ota Area Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Fayoade Adegoke.

    Those in attendance were monarchs, Baales, Chiefs, market men and women and professional associations.

    According to the Area Commander, the meeting was a directive of the Inspector General of Police to enable the communities interact with police and other security agencies.

    This, he said, would prepare the country against all forms of criminal activities including robbery, raping, car snatching and other vices confronting the residents.

    The ACP said: “It is high time residents took a larger share in security and policing of their environments”. He noted that community policing involves a resident being conscious of what is happening around his/her environment and reporting abnormalities to the police. He said the obligation of ensuring that a community is safe should be the business of everyone and not just the police.

    His words: “There are various crimes, disorderliness, nuisances even traffic problems within the communities that have created so much fear even to go out on day time for the fear of not to encounter circumstances that would make people compete with criminals. We have seen that policing have gone to a level that it has to be for community through community and for community.

    “Community must be an integral of part of policing of an environment to make it more safer, secure and even for the roads to become accident- free to reduce fatality in the country.”

    ACP Adegoke appealed to Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) to end epileptic power supply which has been the major threat to the residents. This, he said, would enable   the police to be more effective and efficient while on patrol, saying criminals are prone to operate in dark environments.

    He appealed to Nigerians to be careful and security conscious while moving with cash on the road during this ember months and also remain confidential while doing financial transactions.

    Adegoke appealed to landlords to be mindful of their tenants and tenants to be mindful of their landlords to check wrong doings. Doing so, he said, will not not  only do  good to the police, but also  to  everyone living within the environment.

    He urged men and women to keep their jewelries in their bags or pockets  when going to a party, put it on in the party venue and removed them immediately before leaving the party.

    The jewelries, he said, could attract criminals.

    “Help police and let police help you,” he added.

    Speaking at the event, the Baale, Ilupeju Iyana Cele, High Chief Olufemi Olalekan (JP), appealed to the Area Commander to assist residents in curbing the problem of land grabbers (Omo-Onile) which their major business is to terrorise the communities and appealed to the junior rank officers to shun cooperation with them.

    He also urged the Police to assist the communities to disband and dismantle the hideouts where the criminals sell and smoke Indian hemp and other hard drugs within the state.

    Chief Olufemi also appealed to police to always respect their uniform while on duty, maintain friendship with the citizens and ensure all the information giving them by the community are well kept.

    The President, Ifo branch of Hoteliers Association of Nigeria, Chief Mrs Bolanle Adekale,  appealed to the police to quickly respond to any distress calls from the residents.

     

  • Community Policing: IGP seeks support of traditional institution

    Community Policing: IGP seeks support of traditional institution

    The Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase says the police cannot make meaningful headway in community policing without working closely with the traditional institution.

    He said the police needed the cooperation and support ‎of the traditional institution to ensure the success of community policing which he described as the pivot of ensuring security of lives and property of citizens across the world.

    ‎Arase, who made the remark Wednesday in Sokoto at an all stakeholders’ interactive session held at the Sokoto police Officers Mess, said it was time to depart from conventional policing to a more effective, efficient and proactive community policing as is obtained across the globe.

    “We are ready to give Nigerians the best police force that has respect and confidence in the citizens by ensuring peace and security ‎of lives and property.

    “I can assure you that the President‎ is committed to a better and effective policing nationwide. And I will like to state that Nigerians should be patient on the approval to recruit more police because the President want to ensure a better atmosphere for those to be trained and equipped for the job,” he said.

    The interactive session which drew attendance from across, groups, associations, PCRC, unions, traditional rulers‎ also raised issues on welfare, attitude, and general conduct of the police especially at check points and on patrol duties.

    According to the IGP” the traditional institution is the hub ‎in community policing, explaining that “we need their advice to work and ensure desirable results,” he said.

    Arase who is on tour of commands, nation-wide also noted that certain matters cannot be resolved or addressed without the support of the traditional institution‎, stressing that “no society can effectively police it’s community without partnering with the traditional institution.‎”

    He maintained that “even if you have 1000 policemen in a community, they cannot be as effective as possible or expected without the cooperation of the traditional institution.”

    “They have to rely on the traditional institution‎ to be able to perform‎ in view of the fact that they are the custodians of the culture, values, norms and tradition as well as the terrains,” he pointed out.

    He directed all Divisional Police Officers and other top officers to focus on period monthly meetings with communities in their respective areas of operations, “this will assist in the maintenance of peace and security as well effective community policing,” he added.

  • Monarch, council chief yearn for community policing

    Monarch, council chief yearn for community policing

    The issue of community policing became the centre of discussion on Monday when the people of Alimosho, the most populated local government in Nigeria gathered for a stakeholders’ forum.

    The 2015 Local Government Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy Stakeholders Forum was meant to discuss among other issues, budget for the year, security, forthcoming general elections, taxes and development of the communities.

    The early arrival of the stakeholders including members of the Community Development Committee (CDC), marketers, traditional rulers, members of the youth council, council officials and party leaders paved way for smooth kick off of the event.

    The arrival of the monarch, Oba of Sasha Oba Nasiru Babatunde Ogunrombi enlivened the atmosphere.

    Amid political songs, banters and shout of party slogans, the newly installed Executive Secretary (ES), Jelili Sulaimon mounted the podium amidst cheers from the gathering.

    .The forum, Sulaimon said, was in fulfillment of the promise by the council administration to carry along stakeholders before critical decisions are taken.

    “This, you will all agree with me is the way forward in making our local government embrace international best practices in governance,” he said.

    While thanking them for their presence, the council boss said the attendance attested to their unwavering commitment to the development of the council.

    “As we all know, local government is the first level of government the citizens come in contact with within their locality; it is the closest to the people at the grassroots and as such it becomes imperative to involve the citizens and residents of the council and other relevant stakeholders in the conceptualisation of the budget and the economic policies as it affects the citizenry,” he said.

    According to him, in the past, economic policies were made the exclusive privilege of the government functionaries, saying when there was disconnection between the people and the policies, programmes and projects of the government which were supposed to serve the people then it becomes a burden.

    Government alone, Sulaimon said, cannot fashion out the needs of the community, hence the necessity for the meeting to receive input from all stakeholders so that at the end of the day “we shall have a budget that meets the yearnings and aspirations of the people.”

    He implored stakeholders and residents within the local government to pay their taxes and levies for the government to have enough resources to cater for its programmes and projects.

    Oba Ogunrombi hailed the Executive Secretary for starting on a good note by consulting with the people before implementation of his policies.

    Sulaimon’s action, he said, was in line with the policy of Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola. This, the monarch said, will aid accountability in the running of the affairs of the council.

    He enjoined the people to be law abiding always.

    Alimosho, he said, is the heart of Lagos just as Lagos is the heart of Nigeria, hence wherever it takes to ensure peaceful co-existence in the area should be done.

    The monarch called on the residents to support the new council boss.

    The CDC chairman, Chief Shola Ogunyombo said the ES has done well within the short time he assumed office. He described as commendable the performance of council boss in the three weeks he has spent so far in office.

    “We have told him our needs particularly the grading of roads and he has visited some of the roads on the list submitted to his office and promised to expedite action on them,” he said.

    On the forthcoming election, he said community policing will go a long way to curb crimes within the vicinity.

    He enjoined parents to monitor their wards.

    “This is the time politicians may want to use them to achieve selfish desire; the youth should shun whoever asked them to commit crime during and after the elections,” he said.

    Chief Ogunyombo urged politicians to play the game by the rules, saying winning an election should be through rigorous campaign and not by violence.

    Other stakeholders reiterated the need for an effective community policing to ensure a violence-free society.

     

  • Case for community policing

    Case for community policing

    In the face of rising crime rates and increasingly diverse and complex problems in the society, the traditional model of policing has come to be viewed as an ineffective approach to fighting crime. In the light of this, an approach to policing that places great emphasis on police-community relations, and on the usefulness of engaging the community in problem identification and solving efforts, has emerged under the banner of “community policing”. Most countries, especially those in the advanced democracies of the world, have adopted the community policing model of law enforcement as an effective strategy for fighting crime and criminality.

    Traditionally, police outfits have responded to crime after it had occurred and, therefore, are structured to support routine patrols, rapid response to calls for assistance from danger, arrests, and follow-up investigations. Community policing, on the other hand, calls for a more strategic and thoughtful incorporation of all these aspects of police business into an overall broader police mission focused on the proactive prevention of crime and disorder. In a nutshell, community policing rests on the belief that law-abiding citizens in the community have a responsibility to participate in the police process.

    In 2004, community policing was introduced in Nigeria under IGP Tafa Balogun. The endeavour was an attempt by the Nigeria Police Force to improve on its performance. It was the Force’s effort to change crime prevention and control to a modern and professional policing capable of providing maximum security to lives and property in Nigeria. Unfortunately, community policing culture has failed to make any meaningful impact in the Nigerian environment due largely to corruption, institutional constraints (police officers’ resistance to community policing), inadequate manpower (both in strength and expertise), insufficient education and training, inadequate equipment, and poor conditions of service of the average policeman.

    No doubt, the ultimate success of community policing in Nigeria will depend on the effective implementation of the following programmes; (i) Weeding out corrupt elements in the police force; (ii) implementing a comprehensive strategy to overcome the challenges that may militate against instituting community policing by addressing issues like community participation in community policing, community policing as an anti-corruption tool, human resource development for community policing and decentralizing policing duties and responsibilities. It also includes restructuring police formations and computing the actual cost of executing community policing operations in Nigeria. Other aspects of the programme must include a comprehensive training and re-training of the entire police force on the philosophy and culture of community policing, as well as the education, counseling and sensitization of the citizenry on the practice of community policing, including their roles as participants in the fight against crime and criminality in the society.

    There is no doubt that Suleiman Abba is on the right track as far as the quest to put a handle on crime and criminality is concerned in Nigeria. His vision for community policing is spot on. Community policing has the capacity to break down the barriers separating the police from the public in crime prevention and control matters, while inculcating in police officers a broader set of community service ideals. As a matter of fact, community policing will promote and support organizational strategies to address the causes of crime, to reduce the fear of crime and social disorder through problem-solving tactics and community-police partnerships.

     

    • Nkem Ibekwe,

    Abuja.

     

  • All Nigerians must be mobilised to embrace community policing —Experts

    All major stakeholders in the security of the nation have agreed that the entire citizens must be mobilized to embraced community policing as a measure to checkmate the incessant security problems plaguing the country.

    The stakeholders, which included the Army, Navy, Police National Security and Civil Defence Corps, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Police Assistance Committee of Nigeria, among others, concluded at a seminar on national security held in Abuja that security in the country should be the responsibility of everyone.

    The forum was a one-day seminar/workshop on “Information/Intelligence Gathering to assist Security Agencies” organized by the Police Assistance Committee (PAC) in partnership with the Senate Committee on Police Affairs and other security agencies and which had in attendance representatives of the service chiefs from the Defence Headquarters.

    In the opening remarks, Senator Solomon Ewuga, who represented the Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, stressed the need to make national security the concern of every Nigerian.

    According to Senator Ewuga, security must start from self which makes it imperative for everyone to be security conscious at all times, adding that it must be appreciated when people and organizations, particularly non-governmental organizations, express interest to assist in security matters.

    The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed, speaking through a representative lamented that the nation was being confronted with security challenges, stating that giving information and intelligent gathering to assist our security agencies to prevent and combat crime should be key and paramount in the minds of every Nigerian.

    In his presentation, representative of Chief of Army Staff, Brigadier-General L. O. Adeosun, admonished all Nigerians to take security as the business of every individual and not that of security forces alone. The Army chief faulted the level of patriotism and nationalism of most Nigerians which he said was grossly inadequate as not many people are thinking Nigeria.

    Speaking in the same vein, the representative of the Chief of Naval Staff, Commodore Elah Eno, stressed the importance of gathering information and intelligence through communal efforts to assist security agencies, adding that such information transmitted to the agencies would help to confront security challenges facing the country.

    In his own address, Director-General of the PAC, Dr. Martins Oni, re-emphasized that the PAC is purely a community policing organization as its modus operandi has always been mobilizing its members constituting tradesmen and artisans at the grassroots to gather information and intelligence to assist security agencies in preventing and combating crime throughout the country.

    Also represented at the seminar was the chairman of the Nigerian Union of Mines Workers Comrade Hamza Muh’d, called for better welfare package for law enforcement agencies through good salaries, good housing in their barracks, better retirement packages and life insurance policy in order to put in their best for security of the nation.

  • State, community policing non-negotiable’

    State, community policing non-negotiable’

    Nigeria must as a matter of urgency embrace State and Community policing to save the nation, the Special Adviser to the National President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Anti-terrorism and Security Matters, Rev. Ladi Thompson, has declared.
    He said the best time to adopt State and Community policing  was yesterday, stating that the security challenges facing the nation make them non-negotiable.
    According to him: “Nigeria is far behind schedule based on the realities on ground. If we are to save ourselves from the imminent bloodshed and disturbing global terrorism, we better adopt State and Community policing.”
    Thompson rejected the argument that State and Community Police will be abused by Governors.
    He reasoned that the Police Force cannot possibly be abused more than “it is in the current Federal structure.”
    State and Community Policing, he said, will enhance security in the nation and preserve the cultural identities of the federating units.
    The cleric said states not favourably disposed to having their Police Force should be left alone while those desirous of having their own should be allowed to.