The Nigeria police Force (NPF) is the body of men and officers, well structured, organised, mobilised and trained to assist the civil authorities in maintaining law and order. They help the society to overcome challenges that threaten its safety, security and well-being.
Because of their involvement with the civil populace, NPF is always the key state agency targeted for criticism by Amnesty International and other human right organisations. Therefore there is need for the police activities to be transparent, accountable, and professional.
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Countless examples of police violating the basic rights of people they are supposed to serve, have been documented.
The personnel involved at the operational level of the police are the rank and file. They receive and carry out orders and always engage directly with the civilian public. But they seem to be less trained and less taken care of. That explains the reason they are always found engaged in corrupt practices and human right violations. This is what taints the image and public perception of the police.
Therefore, there is a need for the Police Service Commission and other authorities responsible to evolve a brand new police doctrine that is well designed, organised, articulated and properly inculcated into the police officers and men. This will help in moulding them and shaping their minds.
Also, the police training institutions, which are incubation centres for breeding competent and professional police officers and men that can satisfy the policing needs of the nation, are at high level of neglect and dilapidation. And this is affecting the quality of personnel. Hence, there is a great need to improve the state of the training institutions to make them at par with the needs of the time.
Moreover, there is a need to organise various courses at regular intervals for all the personnel of the force, to upgrade their capacity and update their knowledge on modern policing procedures, human rights, crowd control and relevant enabling laws as well as rules of engagement.
It is obvious that the public perception of the police is bad and their image grossly stained, hence the national outcry for general police reform. Therefore, the police public relations units need to enlighten the public on the statutory responsibilities of the police as well as its relevance and relationship to the public. This will make them easily approachable to the public, in distress or periods of need, for help or assistance. It will also give the public the confidence to volunteer useful information to them which will enable them to discharge their responsibilities easily.
With a revised doctrine, new training manuals, rebranded training institutions, sufficient modern training facilities and equipment, competent trainers as well as good image makers, a modernised police force can be realised.
And this will breed a modern police that will be at par with the modern realities and operate with the international best practices that is corruption free, and devoid of cases of human rights violations. The public will in turn see the police as their friend rather than a foe.
Usman Aliyu Elnafaty, from Fedamar Jaji Bauchi, Bauchi State
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