Benue to recruit 2,300 community policemen, 460 volunteer guards

The Benue State Security Council has approved the recruitment of 2,300 personnel of community policing and 460 community volunteer guards, also known as vigilante, to complement the efforts of conventional security agencies.

Governor Samuel Ortom, who presided over the Council meeting, said the decision to embrace community policing was in line with the resolution reached at the North Central Security meeting held in Lafia, Nasarawa State in January this year.

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Ortom explained that 100 community policing personnel would be recruited from each of the 23 local government areas of the state, while 20 community volunteer guards would be recruited as well from each of the local government areas.

He stated that both the community policing personnel and those of the community volunteer guards would help the police in intelligence gathering.

Ortom noted that, as stipulated in the law, activities of community volunteer guards would be supervised by the permanent secretary, Bureau of Internal Affairs at the state level, while council chairmen and district heads would coordinate same at the local government and ward levels respectively