Full Project - IMPACT OF COMMUNITY POLICING IN EGOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF EDO

Full Project – IMPACT OF COMMUNITY POLICING IN EGOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF EDO STATE

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The primary function of police is to prevent and detect crime. The police without the lively involvement of the community face difficulty in tackling crime. Palmiotto (2010) further supported the idea by saying that police cannot succeed in fighting crime without the assistance of the community. Therefore to prevent crime successfully there must be community partnership and involvement. This fact indicates the need to involving the community, the local government and the police to work together to tackling crime.

Crime is said to be a serious social problem that directly reduces the quality of life of individuals and the community. It causes economics, health and psychological effects on victims and the society at large. Police are the most visible institution concerned with fighting crime twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. Morgan, (2006) community policing has become a major issue for many countries and Nigeria is not an exception. According to Taye, (2011) community policing is the best way of policing currently, and Abebe (2004) said that working together with the community on the basis of partnership should be the primary concern of the police.

Traditionally, policing was the responsibility of all adults in community. In medieval society, all adult males were obliged to contribute towards the prevention and control of crime and disorder under the systems of ‘hue, cry and pursuit’ and the ‘watch and wards that preceded the emergence of specialized police forces as organs of the state. But the emergence of the state, with its vast bureaucracies anchored on centralization, hierarchical authority/power structure, and professional staff (Alemika, 2003) changed the traditional policing philosophy rooted in the idea of policing as everybody’s business.

The emergence of the state as an entity with claim to the monopoly over the means of legitimate control of violence in society (Reiner 2001) resulted into the creation of specialized agencies such as the police and the armed forces for controlling the issue of violence and crimes in the society. The emergence of democracy in Nigeria has placed additional demands and challenges on community policing, training and operational strategies. People are now expecting the police to respect their human rights and rule of law while carrying out their operations in the society. Also, the global shift from traditional approach in policing to a more humane, problem solving and community participatory policing style has necessitated a commensurate change in the training of police officers in the society (Palmiotto, Birzer&Unnithan, 2000).

Community policing, just as the name implies, requires a unique partnership with the public and police in crime prevention and control within the community. It is a modern policing strategy which allows the police to proactively act beyond mere crime fighting, but to partner with community members in setting the security priorities in the society and fashioning ways of resolving identified problems in the community (Ogadimma and Rasheed, 2013). This synergy between the police and the public is anchored on mutual trust and respect between both parties, and could be enhanced through adequate community policing training. According to Arase and Iwuofor (2007) community policing has come to remodel recruitment, training and placement strategies, so that the best wield the baton, as well as elicit public cooperation and partnership in policing Nigeria. Community policing training prepares the police officer mentally, and physically to meet up with many demands of his job (Andrews, 2009).

This partnership will make both the police and the people “co-producers of safety” in the community. The Nigeria Police has a mission statement that aims to create a safer and more secured environment conducive for meaningful socio-economic development through community policing, and crime prevention (Arase & Iwuofor, 2007).

It is note worthy that adult education has vital Impact to play in this venture. Adult education is directed to the people and its major focus is on the local community. Its primary goal is to strengthen and improve the processes through which people strive to organize for solution to their group problems. This is because, adult education makes people aware of both individual and community needs. It makes recipients to cope successfully with current problems. It arouses in them a desire for the better and recognition of importance of education for such change.

Adult Education: is therefore a major factor in the improvement, of personnel, social and economic life of the community people including security to lives and property of members of the community. The major challenge now is how to empower the police with the needed skills through community policing training to achieve these noble goals in Nigeria.Adult education is crucial for the adoption of any significant change and is the foundation for how people or organizations respond to changes. A comprehensive adult education approach is essential in institutionalizing the philosophy and practice of community policing within a police agency. However, in designing training that meets the needs of the people who constitute end users of the training outcome, effort must be made to solicit the in-put of the people. As beneficiaries of training outcome, the people will be able to express their expectations and suggest the best ways to realize them.

Proponents of community oriented policing believe that this new paradigm has the potential to serve as a model for reform of the entire criminal justice system. According to (Arase, 2007), the philosophy and mission of community policing can drive all aspects of adult education so that adult education becomes the key to promoting and institutionalizing the shift to community policing. To achieve this, it is suggested that all aspects of training should be analyzed to ensure that they promote the mission of community oriented policing, which is to provide decentralized and personalized police service that empowers the community to participate as partners in the process of making their neighborhoods better and safer places to live and work.

One of the major goals of community policing is to establish a partnership with citizens and facilitate their involvement in the policy. In order to be able to do that, community members need to understand their Impacts in community policing. Furthermore, they must be motivated to become active participants in community policing efforts.

Community policing is a paradigm shift that seeks to focus on constructive engagement with people who are the end users of the police service and re – negotiate the contract between the people and the police thereby making the community co –producers of justice and a quality police service. The most recent attempt made by the Nigeria police force to improve its performance was the introduction of community policing programme in 2004. This was part of the Force’s effort to change policing to a modern and professional policing capable of providing maximum security of lives and property in Nigeria. Community oriented policing is a proactive philosophy that promotes solving problems that are either criminal, affect the quality of life, or increase citizens fear of crime. It involves identifying, analysing and addressing community problems at their source.

A community policing perspective differs in a number of ways from a traditional policing perspective. In community policing, the police must share power with residents of a community, and critical decisions need to be made at the neighbourhood level. Achieving the goals of community policing requires successful implementation of three essential and complimentary components or operational strategies: community partnership, problem solving, and change management (Desmond, 2008).

“Community policing is a philosophy of full service personalized policing, where the same officer patrols and works in the same area on a permanent basis, from a decentralized place, working in a proactive partnership with citizens to identify and solve problems.”(Adegoke, 2011). Community policing is a professional management organization that is structured for the support in the community to create proactive problem solving to address the immediate conditions that give rise to the public safety issues such as crime, social disorder and fear of crime. Community policing has partnerships between law enforcement agency and other organizations like government agencies, community members, non-profit service providers, private businesses and the media. Government agencies includes probation and parole, public works departments, neighboring law enforcement agencies, health and human services, child support services, ordinance enforcement, and schools (Okechukwu, 2010).

Community members can include partnerships with neighborhood association that has meetings, town hall meetings and storefronts decentralized in the community. Nonprofit organizations include advocate groups like service clubs, support groups, issue groups and community development corporations. These groups work with individuals that have the same interest in the community. The media represents a powerful pattern by which it can communicate with the community. The community policing uses the media to assist with publicizing concerns and solutions that will impact the community (Adeleke, 2012). The media can have an impact on the fear of crime, crime problems and perceptions of the police in the community. Community policing recognizes that police cannot solve every public safety problem alone so interactive partnerships are involved.

The contemporary community policing movement emphasizes changing the Impact of law enforcement from a static, reactive, incident-driven bureaucracy to a more dynamic, open, quality-oriented partnership with the community. Community policing has been variously described; some by purpose and functions, others by structure and programs, still others as a philosophy. The Conceptual descriptions concerning community policing given by different writers and institutions. Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies, which support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime (Holloway, Katy, Trevor Bennet and David, 2008). According to Community Policing to Reduce and Prevent Violence against Women training Curriculum and Resource Guide, ‘Community policing is an organization-wide philosophy and management approach that promotes partnerships, proactive problem solving and community engagement to address the causes of crime, the fear of crime and other community issues (Police executive research forum, 2008).

The above literature generally conceptualizes the definitions of community policing as positive police community relationship, which are achieved through community engagement and by emphasizing collaboration and partnership. Accountability is realized by creating mechanisms through which police can be made answerable for addressing the needs and concerns of the community they serve (South Africa, 2007). According to the above thoughts, community policing were characterized by providing fast, efficient and effective service which aimed to solve problems that the community faces, through close community police-partnership. This partnership came to life when the society was empowered. Both police and community have to be accountable for individual acts and omissions in community policing activities.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

As beneficial as community oriented policing might be, it faces difficulty in its operation and implementation inthe society after training. This difficulty in implementation has become a major police concern. The resistance can come from both the police and members of the public. Sometimes the police perceive community oriented policing to be too soft to suspects and inadequate for violent crimes. Though the police have spent much time and resources training their officers, yet police operations were guided by professional orientations. Members of the public are still alienated by the police in carrying out their duties. The police officers that benefited from the imperfections of the traditional style find it difficult to change their orientations even after undergoing community oriented policing training. The perception of law enforcement rather than service to the people still dominates police actions to the people. Some of the deviant sub-cultures within police organization sometimes makes it difficult for the police to effectively operate community oriented policing strategy in their community (Ade, 2009).

Despite police focus on crime fighting and law enforcement, crime rate still soars and there is equally an increase in the fear of crime among the people. Most police operations were designed and carried out without much input from the people within the communities. This reactionary policing style and lack of respect for people’s rights, dignity and security concerns by police while performing their duties in the community, created a gap between the police and the people. Community oriented policing training aims at reducing this gap between the police and the people by increasing people’s confidence and trust of the police.

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to examine the Impact of Community Policing in Egor Local Government of Edo State.

To determine the community policing provision available in Edo State.
To assess the extent to which community policing has further addressed the issues of security in Edo state.
To examine how adult education programme will influence manpower for community policing in community of Edo state.
To ascertain whether community policing is visible/viable in Edo state.
- Research Questions

Are there community policing provisions for Edo state?
To what extent has community policing addressed the issues for security of life and properties in Edo state?
To what extent will adult education programme influence manpower need of community policing in security of Edo state?
To what extent is community policing visible/viable in Edo state?

Research Hypothesis

The following are the hypotheses for this research study:

There is no significant community policing provision in Edo state.
Community policing has not addressed the issue of security in Edo state.
Community policing has not significantly influenced manpower for community policing security issues of Edo state.
Adult education programme has not significantly influenced manpower for community policing in community of Edo state.
Community policing is not visible/viable in Edo state.

1.6 Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The scope of study was limited to the Impact of Community Policing in Egor Local Government of Edo State.

1.7 Significance of the Study

The overall findings of the study may contribute in:

Providing viable experience and direction in fighting crime through community policing in the community and state in general and the study area in particular. Understanding the challenges of community policing in other city centre of Edo in general and the city in particular. Hence the results of the study based on its objectives might become valuable for those implementers in the community policing and police sector in general.

The study will ensure establishing and maintaining mutual trust between citizens of a community and the police as the main goal of the first component of community policing. Police have always recognized the need for cooperation with the community and have encouraged members of the community to come forward with crime-fighting information.

The outcome of study will ensure full partnership; the police and a community’s residents and business owners identify core problems, propose solutions, and implement a solution. Thus, community members identify the concerns that they feel are most threatening to their safety and well-being. Those areas of concern then become priorities for joint police-community interventions. For this problem-solving process to operate effectively, the police need to devote time and attention to discovering community’s concerns, and they need to recognize the validity of those concerns.

The study will enhance forging community policing partnerships and implementing problem-solving strategies necessitating assigning new responsibilities and adopting a flexible style of management.

1.8 Operational Definition of Terms:

Community: Community is the term that refers to a group of people who share three things: they live in a geographically distinct area (such as a city or town), they share cultural characteristics, attitudes and lifestyles and they interact with one another on a sustained basis. Thus, community could be understood as group of people sharing the same city, similar social class, having same culture, sharing the same objectives and have similar psychological makeup.

Crime: It is an illegal activity which causes physical or moral injuries on others.

Policing: Policing is an activity directed towards the prevalence of justice and security by the police or others. It is concerned with diverse collection of issues and practices. Thus, policing is a service delivered by a police to the community for their own well being. In addition the police were not the only institution in policing activity, the community, concerned government agencies and non-governmental organization also have Impacts to play.

Police: Police is a trained person in crime prevention and investigation for the purpose of maintaining the peace and security of the community.

Community Partnership: Community partnership is a flexible term referring to any combination of neighborhood residents, schools, churches, businesses, community-based organizations, elected officials and government agencies who are workingco-operatively with the police to resolve identified problems.

Community Policing: Community policing involve the importance of active partnership between the police, civil societies, and other agencies of government worktogether in identifying and solving problems to improve the overall quality of life as whole and crime prevention in particular.

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Full Project – IMPACT OF COMMUNITY POLICING IN EGOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF EDO STATE

Full Project – IMPACT OF COMMUNITY POLICING IN EGOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF EDO STATE

Full Project – IMPACT OF COMMUNITY POLICING IN EGOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF EDO STATE

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