Community policing: a solution to local terrorism- Experts

Emeka Ibemere

Security experts and stakeholders have suggested community policing rather than the conventional means of policing and applying the full wrath of force as an only solution to ending local terrorism and other forms of insecurity in Nigeria.

The experts who spoke differently at separate gathering while discussing on the safest means to reduce crime in the country tipped community policing as only mechanism to checking out the activities of terrorist groups, mafia gangs, robbery goons, kidnapping gangs and other sundry petty criminalities.

Recently, Nigeria has been boxed in a tight corner with pockets of criminality occasioned by the daily activities of increasing insecurity in the country-kidnapping, bombing, assassinations, bank robbery, ritual killing, rape and in most cases, cultism.

In all most of the cases, the suspects escape without justice while their victims rot in the belly of grave.

Discussing on these ugly issues in separate fora, those who spoke with Daily Newswatch stated that community policing has succeeded in reducing criminality especially in areas where it has been effectively used. 

Last week, while receiving an award he won in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, the Divisional Police Officer of the Victoria Island Divisional Police Office Headquarters said community policing was a better form of policing in both urban and rural areas.

The Division won the 2012 Altus Regional Award for the Best Police Stations in Africa, for adopting an entire new approach of policing with friendly outlook which brings the security organizations close to their host communities.

CLEEN FOUNDATION, the organizers of the award ceremony stated that the DPO, Mr. Adegoke Fayoade, was judged the winner of the best police station in Africa using the five indicator areas in the 2012 Police Station Visitors’ Week, which included community policing.

According to Blessing Abiri, all the police stations were rated on Community orientation; where according to Abiri, Victoria Island police Station scored 100 percent and scored 96.67 percent on physical Condition of the police station.

She added that on equal treatment of the public, that the DPO, Victoria 96.67 percent and another 100 percent on transparency and accountability.

Abiri further disclosed that Victoria Island police garnered another 100 percent in the area of detention and conditions of suspects and showcased excellence in good and innovative policing practices which helped improve the service delivery of the police station to clinch the award.

The Regional Representative and Program officer Altus Global Alliance stated that the six edition of the Police Station Visitors’ Week was conducted in 2012 by the Altus Global Alliance in 17 countries to provide local civilians an opportunity to visit local police stations and assess the services the police provide to them. 

In Africa, six countries: Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia and Nigeria participated in the 2012 Police Station Visitors’ Week with a total of 343 participating police stations across the six countries.

A total of 1,153 visitors participated in the police Station Visitors’ Week 2012 and were from various local community groups including school children.

Fayoade explained that the transformation vision agenda of the Inspector General of Police, IGP MD Abubakar to build a community- friendly- police force that is professional, disciplined, dedicated, effective, selfless, efficient, upright and a force that would respect the rights of the citizenry was his key in achieving the enviable record of being the best police station in Africa.

According to the DPO, a people centric, preventative and basic law enforcement driven strategies in the policing is the bedrock of community policing.

 According to Fayoade, community policing starts with an enabling police environment that encouraged members of the public to visit the station, report cases and pass vital information to police officers. Community policing involves police visibility and accessibility which also enhances neighbourhood policing which makes officers to be on daily checked points, vehicular patrolling, motorcycle and foot patrolling of every nooks and crannies of their areas of duty.

“People were sensitized and their perception about police changed positively. I and my team embarked on door-to-door policing strategy whereby regular visits were paid to particularly identified problem areas”, he stated.

“Handbills and flyers containing telephone numbers of officers and men in this division, security tips and other vital security information are regularly shared with the members of the public”.

According to the DPO, community policing creates police-public partnership, through engaging the stakeholders in a forum and by so doing,  enhances the robust relationship that existed between the community and the police division in that area. With such an enhance relationship, the public would largely see themselves as part of the division and play their own role in securing their places.

“The essence of the strategy was to make the public partners in progress by participating in the affairs of the police”.

He said community policing creates room for forming of committees, and according to him, many residents became part of the various committee established. He said one of such committees, he adopted in his area was the Response to distress calls monitoring committee.

This Committee, the DPO stated was to monitor and ensure that police response time to distress calls and assistance by the public put at 3-5 minutes was religiously adhered to; this ultimately results in improved police performance.

“The neighbourhood watch program equally created safer streets by assisting in putting at bay, arrest or alert police on theft, burglaries, purse snatching, breaking into parked vehicle etc.”, he explained.

“Other committees in place made up of the public to address or attend to different community needs are: citizens Committee for dispute resolution, Conciliatory peace committee and the media and publication committees”.

Fayoade further stated that in community policing, he adopted started organizing lectures in schools and colleges, teaching the community on the police activities.

The division also organized visits to motherless homes were distressed children are supported. According to him, it was to demonstrate that the police are approachable, friendly and interested in assisting the community.

He stated that in community policing, that policemen are consistently and regularly thought on the need to exhibit excellent attitudes, conduct and practices that aimed at solving problem in course of their duty.

Fayoade made it a point of duty that officers receive tutorials on how to ensure that decisions are made equitably and employ procedural fairness in handling cases. He said: “improved police community relations and basic law enforcement has resulted in increased legitimacy and public support for the local police in crime prevention”, he said.

“The supportive relationship existing between the public and police make police to be proactive, based largely upon information received or provided by the public to protect places and people on the basis of assessment arrived at with public assistance. Correspondingly, crime rates are on speedy decline”.

The DPO said community policing brings the police closer to their host community and through that the delinquent youths who hibernate by the beach and whose areas of speciality are to commit petty criminal offences are being regularly rehabilitated through the division’s collaborative project with passionate individuals, Non-Governmental Organizations, religious organizations, social clubs and other sundry groups in Lagos State.

 He revealed that rather than the normal police culture of arresting and prosecution that the division and the organizations took over the minors and the street urchins by providing them food, clothes, formal education shelter and equip them with skill acquisition for them to be self-sufficient in life.

He disclosed that before now, when the division was employing the normal police arrest and detaining of the youths, that after about one or two weeks, the boys are back on the streets and would be boasting but since they adopted the non-arrest system to rehabilitation system; that the system has helped reduce crime and criminalities on the Island.

The 2012 African best DPO, also said that his robust networking relationship style effort in policing Island without causing pains and harm to the public and his host community was the introduction of sports and games to the hundreds of the community youths who ordinarily would have taken to crimes but were adequately engaged in volley ball and other sporting competitions at the beach with the collaboration of the Chairman of the Island Local Government Area where after the competitions, prizes, gifts and trophies are donated to the winners.

“The major benefit of such completion is to forge unity among the youths who are mostly restive and take them away from unholy activities by engaging them. It was noticed that for the period the competition was on and after, youth restiveness and involvement in criminal acts drastically reduced”, he added. “Engaging the youths in exercise like this; keeps them busy and them away from vices and wrong doings”.

For effective community policing, other security agencies work in synergy. The DPO stated that his division has robust relationship with the media, other security agencies: the Navy, Airforce, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), State Security Services, Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA), and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

It was gathered that community policing will promote public safety, security and accessible justice in Nigeria. In another development, another senior security personnel advocated for community policing as a safer way to curb crimes in Nigeria. Speaking at Bishop Peter Awelewa Adebiyi Multi-Purpose Complex of Saint Paul’s Anglican Church, Oke Afa, in Isolo Local Council Development Area of Alimosho, Lagos State, during a seminar in memory of Sir Jean Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross Society organized by the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS), Oshodi/Isolo Division, on the topic, Nation Building through Joint Collaboration , The divisional Chairman of the Oshodi/Isolo Red Cross Society of Nigeria, a Pastor and crises manager,  SMC Nwosu said in his opening remarks that the seminar was organized due to the security challenges facing the country at this time of her life.

According to him, security of the country is everybody’s business and that was why as disaster managers, NRCS decided to put heads together in search of a solution in resolving the monster of insecurity in the land. Nwosu called for effective community policing as only solution to all forms of insurgency in the land.

Nwosu went down memory lane in identifying Oshodi/Isolo as disaster prone areas in Lagos State and said among the 48 divisions of the Red Cross Society in Lagos State of Nigeria, that Oshodi/Isolo has been mostly affected with disasters.

Nwosu disclosed that the Ikeja bomb blast, pipeline vandalism, Oke-Afa canal disaster, building collapses, fire disasters, flood problems, plane crashes in Lagos are always the challenges facing Red Cross in Lagos state and said the seminar was to equip their members on how to handle emergency situations in Lagos State. He said with community policing most of these disasters could be averted.

ASP Cypril Osawe, of the Counter-Terrorism Unit who represented Commander John Paul Echatah, Commanding Officer, Counter-Terrorism Unit, Lagos in his paper; The Security Challenges in the Country-Today; Our Role as Citizens disclosed that no nation is total free from security problems no matter how organized those countries are, adding that it’s a challenge facing every developed, developing and under-developed nations.

In arresting the situation of terrorism in Nigeria, Osawe reflected back to the ancient days of community policing where the vigilante group was prominently used in fighting criminals and restoring the order in the community.

 He disclosed that everybody must be involved in the fight against terrorism and other forms of criminality.

“Every criminal or insurgent live in a community and crimes are committed within these communities. Before the advent of the police, security duty was community base. The communities then were responsible in securing their environment. Every Citizen in Nigeria lives in a community which they must secure”, he said.

“Most communities have a vigilante group which function to secure their particular community. If everybody is involved in making this vigilante group functions optimally, within their community, then the government forces will have less stress in the performance of their security jobs”.

 According to the anti-bomb officer, vandalization of pipelines which are carried out on daily basis takes place within a community, yet the elders of the community keep sealed lips to such charade until the whole community is lost in inferno.

Osawe hit the nail on its head by sounding it loud and clear that the country is experiencing difficult security challenges which he described as ‘man made problems’.

He accused the people of Nigeria for not divulging credible information that could help the security agencies in solving the problems of terrorism and other criminal activities in the country. He also advocated personnel security as a way of remaining safe in the midst of security challenges.

“Today, community policing is being advocated for; and the practice of this community policing greatly involve you. I mean all of us as partnership, as an individuals or body must collaborate. It’s indispensible in checkmating the security challenges that our country is faced with”, Osawe pleaded.

“The security forces cannot be everywhere, as they are not ‘air’ that can fill the atmosphere. Therefore, you are the first security officer in your community, once this is done, we can be sure that our country will to an extent be secured”.

He expressed concern on personal security which he said was the first security strategy.

Osawe frowned at the manner people exposed themselves to insecurity by living life that could attract security attacks by hoodlums and other criminals. 

“The culture of exposing our affluence should be cautioned because; it makes us to be a soft target before the criminal. For a crime to thrive there must be opportunity made available to the criminals. Majority of the armed robbers strike base on information of valuable material made available before them”, he said. “Therefore, we must all put our best by giving the security forces the necessary support, information, collaboration and being the first respondent in our respective community to secure our nation”.

Speaking on the role of the citizens in securing the country, Osawe said the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria section 24 (e), stated that every citizen of the country have the mandatory duty to render assistance to appropriate and lawful agencies in the maintenance of law and order. According to him, the criminals or insurgents live with the citizens.

 “They are not living in the moon. The security agents need our information to track these criminals down. The security agents have emergency numbers that you can call without making your identity known to them. 999 is a general emergency number we can call in any emergency situation. The IGP has given out some numbers; the public could reach with in case of emergency”, Osawe narrated.  “We should be security conscious every time; everywhere; around our environment. Furthermore, as an individual and members of a family, in our homes, we should monitor our children and instil the culture of love into them. They say charity begins at home, the good training given to a child goes a long way in securing the society, bearing in mind that our children, families are the nucleus of the society”.

Addressing the Red Cross Society as a body, he said every organization, professional bodies or as Non- Governmental Organizations have role to play in securing the entity called Nigeria. In maintaining security, peace and order, Osawe said members of the professional groups should uphold the ethics of their job towards securing the economy, lives and property of all Nigerians.

“Professional bodies and associations such as Accountants, Doctors, Engineers, the judiciary and Non- Governmental Organizations, and the security agents have their duties spelt out by the constitution, which we plead they should carry out to the latter without fear or favour”, he stated.

“The judiciary should adhere strictly to impartial adjudication of the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. Osawe was of the views that if all do his or her responsibility that the country Nigeria could be saved from the rampaging terrorists who are devouring the soul of the country.

“For instance, you members of the Red Cross Society of Nigeria have been of huge assistance in seeing that the lives and property of many Nigerians are protected especially in the area of disaster. The Red Cross Society of Nigeria has participated in numerous disaster management and humanitarian relief operation, and also in the area of disease outbreak”. He further stated.