The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Abubakar Adamu, says community policing initiative will complement Nigeria police efforts in combating crimes and issues bordering on activities of bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and militants.
Adamu said this shortly after the submission of report by the committee on the Implementation Strategies on Strengthening Internal Security Framework and Community Policing in Nigeria on Friday in Abuja.
The police boss said strategies have been put in place towards implementing the community policing initiative to complement Nigeria Police efforts in combating crimes.
The community policing committee was inaugurated by the Federal Government on May 7 and given two months to complete its assignment.
The committee was to study and analyse the findings, recommendations and implementation strategies of the Presidential Parley Report by the Senior Executive Course, 4, 2018 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Kuru, in Jos.
The committee was also tasked with responsibility to come up with policy statement for the consideration by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Giving further explanation on the initiative, IGP said the whole responsibility of the initiative would be on the state governments.
“State police and community police are not the same.
“State police requires state governments to create, recruit, train and manage the policing system separate from the federal, while community policing is engaging the community in every aspect of policing, taking policing initiative.
“I mean the initiative should come from the community rather than from the police, that is the best solution as against state police because the advantages of community policing has outweigh the idea of state police.
“The disadvantages of the state police are more than the perceived advantages so the way to go is by community policing, which will take care of all the demands and the agitations of state police.
“A lot of strategies have been put in place towards implementing community policing and one of those is the report that has just been given to fine tune the implementation strategy.
“And in that, the idea or the concept is that, in every community that we identified, people that are born from the community, grew from the community and know everybody within the community will be recruited.
“And, they will be trained to be community policing officers that will only work within that community,“ he said.
The advantage of recruiting people from the immediate community, Adamu explained, was for proper identification of those who indulged in different criminal activities within such identified area.
“Their areas of responsibility will be only within that community, which is to say that they know the terrain, they know the language, and they know everybody within that community.
“So, if there is any problem within the community that will lead to committing of crime, they will identify it.
“Then with the leadership of a community and support of the police, they will be able to solve the problem before it occurs,” he said.
According to him, the community police will be under the control of the Nigeria Police, but not a separate force.
He said that the structure would be decentralised to the lowest level for the community to be involved, while the system would be within the Nigeria Police.
