Nigeria Police Force Official Website

COMMUNITY CRIME PREVENTION

AND CONTROL: A SPEECH DELIVERED BY

SIR (DR) MIKE M. OKIRO CFR, NPM, mni

INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE

AT A SEMINAR ORGANISED BY THE

ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA (ALGON)

AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE, ABUJA

 ON WEDNESDAY 19^TH NOVEMBER, 2008

PROTOCOL

INTRODUCTION

I am delighted to be here today to  address this all  important gathering of our great leaders at the local government/grass root level. First of all, I want to express my  gratitude to the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) for organizing this forum at this crucial period in our dear nation when we have decided to embrace policing by the body politic. It is for this purpose that I crave your indulgence to reframe the given topic of this paper which was originally captioned ACommunity Policing@ to ACommunity Crime Prevention and Control@.

2.         A Local Government Council is the Pivot of socio- economic planning and development in its area of authority. Being also the tier of government closest to the people, it is  considered a most important facilitator of economic and  socio-development at the grassroots. This has become imperative for the fact that according to modern research findings on crime and economic development, one Charlotte Hyde has it that Aeconomic development in the society will affect crime rate in different ways. Criminal behavior is caused more by social factors than by biological ones. Crimes such as armed robbery, assault, assassination and kidnaping will drop when a society becomes industrialized, while at the same time, other crimes such as property crimes like house breaking and burglary, will rise. Non industrialized countries have a bigger problem with major Human Rights offences than economically developed societies. Industrialized and non industrialized society have their own unique problems that lead to criminal activity@.

3.         Thus, Mr President=s choice of his economic vision for Nigeria, - ensuring that she becomes one of the world=s best twenty economies by the year 2020, has its justification in the above research finding. My own mission for the Nigeria Police is tied to that of Mr. President=s vision and the essence is to create a safer and more secured environment conducive for meaningful socio-economic development through crime prevention and control. The rationale for this choice stems from the fact that there can be no meaningful  socio-economic development without internal security, domestic peace, law and order.  To ensure the realization of this mission of the Nigeria Police, I designed the following strategies:

These are;

i.          Full implementation of my 9-point agenda;

ii.         Crime prevention in line with UN guidelines;

iii.        Establishment of 6 additional PMF Squadrons;

iv.        Revitalization of criminal intelligence gathering techniques of the CIB;

v.         Training and Retraining of personnel;

vi.        Judicious utilization of Police Public Information boxes;

vii.       Creation of additional Duty Posts;

i                      Divisional Police Public relations Officers;

i                      Conflict Resolution Officers;

i                      Human Right Officers;

i                      Juvenile/Old People/Women Welfare Officers;

i                      Pipeline Patrol Officers;

i                      Community Policing Officers;

i                      Scene of Crime Officers.

Viii.     Creation of specialized Units

i                      Anti-Terrorism Squad

i                      Anti-Robbery Squad

ix.        Action Plan template (detailed action plan on implementation of my 9-point test)

x.         Sports and Games

i                      For confidence and  trust building because of its relevance in information gathering

xi.        Welfare Packages

i                      Promotions

i                      Prompt payment of salaries

i                      Police Housing Scheme

i                      Police Insurance Scheme

i                      Direct funding of Divisions

i                      Car & Motorcycle Loan Scheme

i                      Internal Administration

i                      Reorganization

i                      Production of Force Operational manuals

-Force Orders, FAI, Police Regulations and Schedule of Duties.

The objective of the strategies when properly harnessed, is to ensure confidence and trust building in members of the public for greater information flow.

4. COMMUNITY BASED CRIME PREVENTION          PROGRAMMES: Cooperation and collaboration between the local communities is of utmost  importance. This is very relevant to our crime prevention and control campaign and our option of policing by the body politic. By crime prevention option we attempt to use social resources to change the conditions that can predispose people to commit crimes. A pertinent question therefore arises here A How can the Local Government Administrations support the Nigeria Police in her current crime prevention and control campaign?@. They could assist;

‚                   By building Recreation Rooms, Inspectors= Mess and Canteens in the various Police Divisions so as to encourage members of the public to interact with the Police for greater information flow, through improved trust and confidence in the Police. In fact the above fora have always been our traditional informal interaction venues for information gathering.

‚                   By organizing football competitions between the youths in the area who will form part of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) Football Teams comprising of both Policemen and youths from all the Local Government Areas,

‚                   By constructing more Police Stations and Posts and requesting for IGP=s formal approval,

‚                   By forming and funding a strong  P.C.R.C and making electronic Identity cards for such P.C.R.C members in the Local Government Area,

‚                   By forming and funding registered Vigilante Groups and making electronic Identity card for them. These Vigilante Group members who are volunteer youths of the Local Government  will join the Police in team patrols within the nooks and crannies of the Local Government Area for crime prevention and control. Having realized the importance of the PCRC, the Nigeria Police in 1984 for the first time approved the formation of these committees with the following objectives:

#     To mix freely with members of the community in order to promote understanding and confidence in them and to bridge the gap of credibility between the Police and the community,

#     To deliberately involve members of the various communities in the effective policing of their areas,

#     To discuss freely Police/Public relations with a view to improving the image of the Police,

#     To discuss and find ways of discouraging or minimizing crime and other matters of security concern and subsequently find solutions to problems that may arise from time to time,

#     To provide forum through which members of the Public and the Police can discuss how to arrange and supervise community volunteer or vigilante groups when formed,

#     To evolve any possible system where private guard could be effectively utilized for the stated goals after thorough screening by the Police,

#     To form an intelligent network that may be used to reduce, minimize and dislodge criminals or any other undesirable element and saboteurs,

#     To scout for and recruit suitable hands into Constabulary cadres of the Police Force and finally reassure the local community of the need to encourage their sons and daughters to seek meaningful careers in the Police Force.

5.         In order to stamp out possible abuse of this privilege, the following guidelines were provided for PCRC operation at Divisional levels;

(a)       A reputable L.G.A member to be the Chairman

(b)       DPO to be the Vice Chairman

(C) Membership not to be more than 35 persons

(d)       They should be able to recommend for the future establishment of Police Posts

(e)       To ensure that vigilante groups do not degenerate to training ground for political thugs

(f)        To discuss ways and means of rendering assistance for effective Police performance in the Division and State Command at large

(g)       Committee is at liberty to deliberate on fund raising modalities for meaningful projects.

In fact we even have executive committees of the PCRC at the states and national levels.

6.         In addition to this, the following guidelines are for the operation of vigilante groups;

!     Members must submit their passport  photographs with a file jacket containing their autobiography,

!     Under no circumstance should a vigilante group operate a centre for the detention of persons arrested without Police permit. They are not to be armed with prohibited fire arms,

!     All persons arrested by vigilante groups should be handed over to the Police immediately in accordance with the provisions of the law,

!     Vigilante group members do not enjoy any special privileges over any other private person for being a vigilante. It is more or less a community service affair,

!     Vigilante groups should pass any information received to Police immediately. Vigilante groups should not act on information themselves,

!     Vigilante groups must never operate on their own except accompanied by Police who are to work with them,

!     Vigilante groups should attend Police lectures at Police Headquarters premises forth nightly,

!     The officer in charge reserve the right to terminate the operation of any vigilante group earlier approved by him if violation of law is reported,

!     The O/C reserves the right to appoint a coordinator to coordinate the activities and report to him for weekly assessment.

7.         CHALLENGES:

As we have challenges at the National level, we also believe that at the Local Government level you will equally face such challenges in your efforts at community crime prevention and control. Such challenges will include:

a)         Need for massive awareness campaign to help sensitize the people for them to see the needs to cooperate with the Police for the creation of safer environment which is a sine qua non for meaningful socio-economic developments that will eventually be for their own benefit through job creation,

b)         Shortage of office and barrack accommodation for Policemen serving in the Local Government. Situations where Policemen live and work under inhuman environment tend to negatively affect their productivity  and attitude to the people they are policing,

c)         Inadequate logistics: Without relevant logistics support,  like Whistles, Torchlights, Rain capes, Rain boots and vehicles to convey Policemen to and fro their beats as well as funding, community crime prevention projects/programmes are less likely to be very effective. 

8.         CONCLUSION