The Matter of State Police is a highly vexed issue; it is over-debated and over-flogged in Nigeria. It raises fear, rage and anxiety in people. The security situation in the states of the federation of Nigeria has worsened and yet nothing has been done about addressing the issue of State Police. In this piece I do not intend to rehash what has been said for or against state Police but merely to call attention to the fact that if we must urgently address the security crisis, take the principle of federalism seriously by making the State Governors the Chief Security officers of their state respective states not in name but indeed, and also meet the challenges of modern day security, through community Policing, then we have only one way to go-State and Community Policing. I hasten to add that state policing is not the same as community policing, neither do they share similar attributes. However, in a big way, they reinforce and complement each other.
In Nigeria today, the security question is very complex and it varies from zone to zone, state to state and community to community. As such there are peculiar economic, cultural and socio- political implications in security matters, which should be duly handled by those concerned in authority. More than that, the issues involved in Policing are essentially technical and operational; they involve actionable intelligence, arrest, detention and questioning of suspects; and general protection of communities. More current Policing require nipping in the bud potential threat issues, working closely with communities to ensure that they are well fortified and closely secure and above all ensuring that everybody is knowledgeable of security issues, claims ownership of the security process and partake of security surveillance.
If genuine security is to be guaranteed, it can only come through people who are familiar with the terrain, the locals, the natives who are able to identify the people in their neighbourhoods and who can, through various networks and groups that exist in the community, get local intelligence on security threats. The local people can choose to cooperate or not to cooperate with the Police in providing information on suspects and those who perpetrated unlawful acts. However, where a community decrees or vows that security has to be guaranteed, when they find their sons and daughters being the Police officers, it because more of a matter of identifying with and showing solidarity for them, than anything else.
Nobody wishes their sons and daughters to be killed, the way the Nigeria police officers are killed daily at checkpoints, during robbers shoot outs. Community security can shield the Police, just as the Police also give security and cover to communities.
The operational overhead of the Nigeria Police Force is too heavy, this has always been so. The creation of state Police will in a very big way cut down on overhead as little resources and little effort will be required to accomplish more. The remuneration of the Police can also become more competitive as buoyant states will pay better salary, this will shore the other states to want to pay something more. To say that there is State Police does not mean that only indigenes of a particular state will be recruited or employed in the State Police. Just like with all State Civil service, those found qualified and employable, irrespective of their state of origin will be employed, accordingly.
Everywhere in the world, community Policing has become the best way to secure and protect communities; and it has also become the best way to complement the work of the Police. Wherever communities are alienated, neither the security of the police nor that of the community can be guaranteed. Community Policing involves much more than a group of residence roaming the streets of a neighbourhood at night. It is about knowing all the weak points in security matters; it also means internalising the intelligence processes and how to predict, indentify and embark on self-protection in case of danger; and then it is also about how, acting as a group, a community can shield and protect itself from criminals and criminal behaviour. Community Policing is therefore, at once, a learning process, a process of security and protecting the self and the community- it is about putting security matters first.
The implication of community policing is that it fortifies the community, creates a police-community synergy in policing and above all creates a sense of ownership in the people of the community and it makes then more pro-active, as a result. With this kind of system in place, criminals and potential criminals can not be shielded. A lot of them will even drop the idea of partaking of crime.
It is true that the Nigeria Police does not have enough officers and men, infrastructure and wherewithal and above all are not well motivated to meet the challenges of modern day security. Above all, if State Governors are truly to stand to the claim that they are Chief Security officers of their respective states, then something needs to be done about the creation of state police and also about community policing.
Political security is about the most threatening security matter in Nigeria today. Political assassinations, political kidnapping, political thuggery, ballot snatching, and so on, have made the political system to become over-heated. All the chief politicians have drained the Nigeria Police as they get upward of two Policemen as bodyguards, the rich politicians who are not office holders also have Police bodyguards. Hotels and other social and public institutions, in the name of security and anti-terrorism have also drained the numbers of Police officers. Additionally, many Police men and women, have been dragged to serve retired Police officers, they serve as their cooks and drivers. All these constitute a huge waste.
One way to check this waste is to introduce State Police, where every Police man and woman must be productively employed and accounted for. Again, there is unevenness of the states in size, population and needs. These peculiarities are better appreciated and efficaciously served by a state police that knows the terrain better. Above all, better quality service and sensitivity to the needs and aspirations of the communities and the state can only come from a Police force that has its origin in the state and feels more committed to the state. In this way, extra judicial killings, arbitrary police checkpoints and shameless and illegal toll collections are likely to cease. Reports and research have stated that the Police is one of the most corrupt institutions in Nigeria today- there is every likelihood that with the creation of state Police, there will be less corruption and more respect for the ethics of the profession, and our communities are likely to be safer and better secure.
I fear for 2011, the fire and brimstone being promised by all and sundry, the inflammatory remarks by politicians do not tell well. These point to potential dangers and threats during the 2011 General Elections and something needs to be done about it. Politicians are citizens of Nigeria but they are indigenes of a state and natives of communities. These layers of relationship and step downs also mean a lot in terms of security matters. The native-citizen debacle is at the heart of the security crisis in Nigeria, It ells about how the Police takes policing work, how the police is welcome or accommodated; it speaks to the son of the soil syndrome; and painfully this is the way Nigerian Politics has been viewed, this is how politics has been played in Nigeria. To be sure, I do not subscribe to the son of the soil ideology. But I am contending that to check the excesses of Police, police brutalities, the excessive use of son of the soil ideology to overheat the political process through all forms of political arbitrariness, including thuggery and rigging, there is need for a more refined state and community approach to all these challenges. Hence community policing and state police become indispensable.
Ultimately, what will guarantee security in our country and communities are education, gainful employment, food security and empowerment of the people. Not to provide all this will make the country vulnerable and insecure. Hence policing cannot be an end in itself. Statesmen and politicians should take a more holistic and long term perspective to the social and economic programmes that will empower the people. This is the surest way to guarantee their own security and the protection of our communities and society.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });