Modern and Refreshed Approaches for Operationalizing Community Policing Model in Nigeria

Abstract

Community policing is a model of policing or strategy adopted by Nigeria to curb crime from the grassroots, starting from the local level. The strategy is based on the idea that local police have local responsibility to minimise the effects of stranger to stranger policing. The model promotes police working in partnership with the community in solving local problems. The idea is, however, fraught with many problems. A set of universally applicable principles and elements are identified, but exactly how they are implemented should vary from place to place, because jurisdictions and police agencies have different needs and circumstances. Throughout the development of community policing various definitions, meanings and practices have made the concept difficult to define. There is considerable uncertainty and disagreement about the conceptual framework of community policing and gross misunderstanding of the principles and elements of the model by those entrusted to implement the model. The study adopted qualitative methodology. An interview technique was used to collect data. A total of sixty-five participants were purposively selected for interview, due to their vast knowledge on the topic under study. The study reveals that officials entrusted with the implementation of the model are not specifically trained and most of them lack experience, cannot effectively operationalize the model. The recommendation includes training and retraining of community policing implementers to acquire the general knowledge of the concepts, elements and strategies of the model, need to identify other smarter policing tenets that can be operationalized in consonance with community policing, the adoption of modern, effective techniques and approach that best fits the diverse nature of Nigeria.