Tuesday 26 June 2012

examination of the Police Community Relations Committee, addressing issuses of how to reduce crime, protect property and minimising of disorder in various communities of Federal Housing Division Jerisdiction, Calabar Minicipality of Cross River State. (posted by THE RESEARCH SUPPORT UNIT - EAGLESISLAND TECHNOLOGIES- NIGERIA)


Abstact
This work was specifically designed to examine mainly the Police Community Relations Committee, addressing issuses of how to reduce crime, protect property and minimising of disorder in various communities of Federal Housing Division Jerisdiction, Calabar Minicipality of Cross River State. In this study, a twenty one (21) point structured questionnaire was designed and administered on responded from the field in the study area. Data obyain and statistically using the chi-square (X2) test of independence of freedom reveals that there is a siginificant relationship between Police Community Relations Committee and combating of crime in the society.
The research also discovered that physical factors such as lack of modern working tools/devices, for Nigeria Police Force poor salaries/wages, lost of confidence and trust by the public and wrong perceptions of Police as oppressive and intimidating force hindered effective Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC). Based on the above findings, the researcher recommended adequated funding of Nigeria Police Force, effective training of Nigeria Police Force personal and creation of awareness of the Police Community Relations the communities of our society.

1.0       INTRODUCTION
Police Community Relations Committee was inaugurated on 22th April, 2004 by then presidents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Enugu State was considered as the pilot State where the first seeds of Community Policing were sown. The introduction of Policing to the 36 State in the Country depended upon the gains of the project recorded in Eungu State.
To further boost the implementation Community of the project, the steering project team conducted a study tour in order to have a working experience of the operations of community relations policing in the United Kingdom. Similar study tours were made to the United State of America where some Nigeria Police Officers were trained as community relations policing developers at Boston in United State of America. It is also worthy of note that the community relations policing project is being facilitated in Nigeria by the department for International development (DFID) and the British council for access to security, Justice and Growth programme and the Nigeria police component.
It is interesting to note that the zeal and interest displayed amongst police officers highlighted the desire of the police authorities and the federal Government to introduce community relations policing now forms part of the police training curriculum and it is hope, it has replaced the traditional reactive form policing that is largely considered to be in effective and inefficient.

1.1       BACK GROUND OF THE STUDY
Security is a crucial factor in National Development. The security system is the super structure on which all other structures or systems depends upon the peaceful operations, growth and development. Policing is therefore everybody’s business. (DUDU, 2010).According to Celestine Nmesle (2008) the Nigeria Police Force was established in 1ST April, 1930 with the primary objective of preventing crime. It is noted that Nigeria Police Force is the British Creation, He rightly observed that:
“William M. C Coskry, the first acting Governor of Lagos, established a small police force known as consular guard, consisting of about 30 men, Later the force was enlarged to about 113 men, due to inadequacy of the number of British troops in the colony”. (Nmerole 2008: 11)Before 1979, there was no unique police force as each region had its own police force. However, the 1979 constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria legally established for the whole country a police force with the primary duties of apprehending and detection of crime. The maintaining of Law and order, apprehension of offenders, the protection of life and property and enforcement of Law and regulations are direct responsibilities of police force. (DUDU, 2010)
On the same Note, Police Community Relations Committee was created in 1984 by Tafa Balogun, then Inspector General of Police.
This was introduced when Nigeria was experiencing high rate of Crime, many people were killed, maimed etc (DUDU: 2010), most of the people behind this crime are members of the community, when they commit such offence, they disappeared into the same community and police force always found it difficult to detect and apprehend them. All these are due to the gap between the police and the community. This gap was the main causes of creating Police Community Relations Committee.
However, the Cross River State Police Command was created on September, 1987 with a total number of 26 Divisional Headquarters all over the State. The reason for creating Police Division was to bring Security closer to the grass root of each jurisdiction in which Federal Housing Division is one of them. Federal Housing Police Division was created in 1994 (F. H. Police Division Brochure of Sept, 2006).


1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The Nigeria Police Force had moved away from old Principles in which they were required, and undertook to deal with crime and disorder largely on their own terms and were left largely to their own devices. The basis of Policing has historically been generally consensual in nature and has sought the co-operation of the Public/Community as witnesses, as sources of information and as supporters of Police action, that relationship has mostly been informal rather than systematic.
The relationship between the Police and Community has been set on a new more interactive footing. The moving from being on the sideline of the Policing of the areas into a partnership role in which the policies and activities of the police will be formulated with the community. When we approach the question of how to reduce crime, criminal opportunity and the fear of crime and address issues of how to protect property and minimize disorder, it is no longer feasible for the police to tackle any of these important tasks without a consideration of a shared partnership approach to each. So when we consider policing initiatives such as intelligence-led or problem-oriented policing, we should remember that to be effective they require a co-operative and co-ordinated partnership with other agencies and members of the community. This will require that collaborative arrangements be made to identify, analyze, prioritize and tackle key crime and disorder problems and therefore policing problems at a community level. Such partnerships can develop into a fully integrated basis for consensus driven, community-based policing. Overtime, police managers will naturally assume a consultative and inclusive style of policing making and action plan. The partners will be able to adopt a cyclical approach to their joint activities that can be reviewed periodically.



1.3       RESEARCH QUESTION
1.   What are the causes of the high incidence of crime in our society?
2.   What is the direction and rate of these phenomena in the community?
3.   What methods have Nigeria Police Force adpoted in partnering with communities for tackling of crime and disorder in the society?
4.   What are the effects of crime on the community?
5.   What is the impact of police community relations committee in reducing crime in our various communities so far?






1.4       OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study include:
1.   Identifying the methods of involving members of various communities at Federal Housing Police Division in the effective Policing of their areas.
2.    Determining the appropriate ways and means of checking and controlling the high incidence of crime among communities in Federal Housing Police Division.
3.   Asserting the rate and direction of insecurity in the society.
4.   Determining the effects on crime rate in Federal Housing Police Division Communities.
5.   Suggesting measures to ends the incidence of crime in communities among Federal Housing Police Division.
6.   Identifying ways of building confidence in Police Force among Communities in Federal Housing Police Division
. 
STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESES
1.   Ho:    There is no significant relationship between the police
Community relations Committee and the combat of crimes in the community.
H1:    There is a significant relationship between the police committee relations committee and the combat of crimes in the community.
2.   Ho:    There is no significant relationship between the Police
Community Relations, community and the enforcement of Law and order in the community.
H1:    There is a significant relationship between the Police community Relations Committee and the enforcement of Law and order in the Community.
3.   Ho:    there is no significant co-operation between the police

1.5       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This work will find ways of discouraging or minimizing crime rate and other matters of security concern and subsequently find solutions to the problems that may arise from time to time. The study would therefore be of much importance to the following:-
1.   The society: These findings will educate the public on the need to co-operate with the police by coming forward freely to volunteer information on criminal activities without fear or favour. It will also provide a forum through which members of the public and the police can discuss in confidence on how to dislodge criminals or any other undesirable elements and saboteurs.
2.   The Nigeria Police Force: The findings will help the Nigeria Police Force in reducing high rate of crime and disorderliness amongst the communities in Federal Housing Division through formation of an intelligence Network among members of the communities as well as vigilante groups.
3.   The Policy Makers: The policy makers are expected to come out with policies and programmes that will go a long way in checking crime rate in the society. This work will add more to the existing literature in community policing in developing countries.

1.6       SCOPE OF THE STUDY
          The study of this magnitude would have covered a wide area, but due to constraint of time and fund. It covered Federal Housing Police Division’s jurisdiction. It is focused on community policing and examined mainly on the police community relations committee addressing issues of how to reduce crime, protect property and minimizing of disorder in various communities of Federal Housing Police Divisional Jurisdiction. The study also examine mainly on area boys and girls between ages of 15 years and above    who have had associated with various street gang and habits of smoking hard drugs in the communities.
It also focused on men and women who are residence and indigence of the communities that make up the jurisdiction of Federal Housing Police Division. The study examined the effects of crime on members of the community, their families and the society at large.
1.7       LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This research would have covered much larger sample and population, but-due to lack of financial, resources, vehicle for easy mobility and poor nature of road network in communities of Federal Housing Police Division. Bad road network and lack of vehicles applying these roads particularly the banning of motorcycle in Calabar caused the limitation of this study. Also in order to have quality information from respondents monetary enticement of members of the community was applied. The refusal of some respondents to question caused time wasting in one family/community and the others which hindered the covering of large population of this study.

1.8       DEFINITION OF TERMS
POLICE:
          According to Nmerole Celestine. I. (2008) police is defined in English as the civil force of a state, responsible for maintaining order.
COMMUNITY RELATIONS:
Nwosu (1990) asserts that it is the management function that is aimed at making friends for an organization, retaining those external goodwill on the reasonable assumption. These are strongly needed for an organization to remain in what ever business it is engaged in.
HUMAN RIGHT:
It is defined according to Tobias Udeh Lebechi (2010) as those rights which are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot live as human beings.
DISASTER:
W. Nick Carter (1974) defines disaster as an event, natural or man-made, sudden or progressive, which impact with such severity that the affected community has to respond taking exceptional measures.
ARREST:
Nmerole, Celestine I. (2008) asserts that arrest is the deprivation of a person’s liberty by some Lawful authority for compelling his appearance to answer a criminal charge or as a method of execution.
JUDGES RULES:
Onwukwe C. J. (2008) defines it as a set of administrative rules introduced by judges of the Queens Bench Division of England to ensure that statements taken by the police from persons suspected of crime or persons in custody are voluntary in and therefore likely to be admissible in evidence.
DETENTION:
This is the act of keeping a person in custody or confinement whether arrested or not, the purpose may be to bring him before a court of competent jurisdiction to answer to a criminal charge or otherwise prevent his movement. Nmerole, Celestine I. (2008)


COMMUNITY POLICING:
Dr. Robert C. Trojanowiez (1980) sees community policing as a philosophy of full service, personalized policing, where the same officers patrol and work in the same area on a partnership with the citizens to identify and solve crime problems.
POLICE COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMITTEE:
According to Nwachukwu O. N (2009) Policing Community Relation Committee is defines as deliberate, planned and sustained efforts made to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.

1.9               THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:
It is essential that all the activities of community relations are within the framework of an agreed and understood corporate personality. As any business is separated the owners in a legal sense, so also is the business personality separate from the individual personality. This is true especially in large scale entities such as Nigeria customs service (NCS), Nigeria Police Force (NPF) etc. However corporate personality is more likely to reflect the style of a management team rather than of an individual. As the work of community relations is closely involved in developing reputation then it takes an active part in defining and projecting this personality. The personality of the organization is shaped by many factors. These include the personalities of the people within the organization not necessarily of only those at the top. Having established this fact, a good number of theories exists in the explanation of the corporate issues. The most appropriate for this study are:
The open system theory, the scientific management approach and the committee system approach. A combination of these three theories will give us a better understanding of issue of community policing.
OPEN SYSTEM THEORY:
Here, organizations have been conceptualized in systemic prospectors. The focus is on describing how a corporate body or organization functions or should function within an environment. The idea draws attention to the fact that integration underlines all organization that it must retain certain structural affects units environment. The approach adopted by Persons (1951) is to search theoretically for deferring requirement placed on all organizations by their functions
(A) Adaptation
(G) Goal Attainment
(I) Integration and
(L) Latency
By adoption, Parsons is referring to the fact that every organization has way of getting its environment adapted to one another to assure that it has requisite manpower or resources to facilitate goal attainment. Goal attainment on the other hand has to do with mobilization of human and social resources for the gratification of the organization.
The model analyzes the Nigeria police force from its social psychology to determine how to find the means to prevent crime and disorderliness, elicit support and cooperation from public/communities in order to achieve its primary goal. The approach believes that Niger Police Force is an example of a system inter dependent on the public with the objective of fulfilling its definable function. The approach places Nigeria Police Force as a means by which Community Relations Committee provides basis for attainment of its goal. The approach holds that the system understands the interrelationships within and amongst sub-system (Police Community Relations Committee) and the Nigeria Police Force.
BEHAVIOURAL THEORY: THE HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH
Elton Mayo and American industrial sociologist pioneered a new school of thought in the 1920s which was to mark the beginning of an ideological revolution in organization theory. He believed that since the primary emphasis of the human relations and behavioural school is place on workers rather than the machines and how to design a social environment within the organization that stimulates individual to strive to achieve objectives, the role of work groups is important.
Management must therefore recognize that no individual operate in isolation or always at variance with group pressures for conformity; given that recognition, that attitudes and models are influenced by group associations, it follows that leadership and problem-solving are quite often group functions in which case group formation and decision-making ought to be encourages at all levels.
The human relations approach recommends that jobs should be enlarged so as to give workers varied exposure, experience, responsibility and authority consistent with effective decentralization.  
The approach holds that formal structure of Nigeria Police Force Organization which lay out clearly the roles, responsibilities, authority pattern and channels of communication, Ignores the public/communities in which these criminals are living.
The perspective believes that if the Nigeria Police Organization evolved effectively from interpersonal behaviour among communities around them, it will help to achieve their objectives and properly redeem the image of the force. In the other hand, the approach portrays that the members of Nigeria Police Force should be taken care of in term of good welfare packages as well as capacity building and equipment. These will enable them to realize that their interest lie with the organization. This will encourage each and every members of the force to achieve their define core objectives.

THE COMMITTEE SYSTEM:
Etuk, (1991: 106) defines a committee as a group of individuals who are specially selected to meet on occasion of discussion and find solutions to specific or general problems, affecting the organization, committee are in this supplemental structures that facilitate(s) task performance. Regular or standing committees are permanent disbanded when they accomplish their temporary assignments.
Purposes of committee include pulling experience together for better results, co-coordinating effort and activities and promoting democratic culture, skill acquisition, co-operation and team spirit among committee members.
Oyediyo (1995: 1155- 117) has enumerated advantages of committees.
i.        It provides opportunity for group deliberation and superior judgments and makes room for a broad representation of views.
ii.       Committees bring about improved co-ordination and consolidation of fragmented efforts and activities.
iii.      Committees serve as additional lines of communication and foster friendship and mutual respect among members.
iv.      The use of committees stimulates individual interest to organizational goals, and ginger deeper commitment.
v.       The use of committee permits expert knowledge to be utilized with great speed and efficiency.
vi.      Committees allow room for detailed consideration and solution to organization problems.
vii.     Committees distribute decision, function widely within the organizations and help to remedy the inevitable imperfection in the managerial division of labour.
The committee system approach portrays police community relations committee as the opportunity for members of Nigeria police force to have broad deliberations with the various communities in which criminals live among them and also have members of the communities as representative of the police organization. This help for crime reduction and orderliness in the society, the perspectives notes that community relations bring improved co-ordination between Nigeria Police Force and the Society.
The committee system lays particular emphasis on fostering of friendship, communities interest and deep commitment among both parties. The community relations help to remedy the problems of hide out of criminal in most communities in our society.


1.11    ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
In many communities today, Police work often seems to consist mainly of reacting to emergences. It sometimes appears that the original emphasis on crime prevention has been lost. In reaction to this tendency, the knowledge of Police Communities relations committee becomes a necessity.
Chapter one deals with the necessity issues that involves Police relationships with members of the communities on crime prevention, such topics are Background of the study, statement of problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, theoretical framework and statement of Hypothesis etc. chapter two deals with literature review of community policing, wrong notions of community policing, concepts of policing community relations, Historical background of police force, benefits of community policing to members of the public etc.
Chapter three concerns with research methodology, chapter four examining the data presentation, analysis and interpretation, test of Hypothesis and discussion of findings which the last chapter deals with summary, conclusion and recommendations.







CHAPTER TWO

2.0                 LITERATURE REVIEW
According to E. C. Osuala (2001: 39), literature review is the survey of previous research work done on the study or problem and the evaluation of what this research has and has not accomplished in solving the problem currently under study.

2.1                     REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The review of relevant literature shows that few works have been written on police community relations committee. Because it is relatively new and they are developed out of necessity as police managers have been forced to face some realities which had perhaps always existed but not been that recognized. It has been posted that high rate of crime aroused the concern of individuals, families, communities and society in general. The view of few scholars on police community relations committee which came under review are grouped and presented on sub headings as follows:

2.1.1         CONCEPT OF POLICE COMMUNITY RELATIONS
COMMITTEE
Dunu, T. Benson (2010: 1) Asserts that security is a contrail factor in National development, the security system is the super structure on which all other structures or system depends upon for peaceful operations, growth and development. Policing is therefore every body business. Accordingly, the primary duty of the police is to prevent crime. This therefore emphasizes on prevention of crime through visibility policing or neighborhood watch, whereby the police should be seen all through to prevent crime by being proactive rather than being reactive.
          Nwachukwu, N. O (2010:8) views crime as a wrong which affects the interest of the community as a whole and for which the offender is punishable. He emphasizes that act of crime gives birth to the concept and establishment of Police in the universe, and their major function is to discourage people from living a life of crime and in the alternative fight those unrepentant criminals who in one way or the other chose to perpetuate crime and disturb peace loving people in the society.
          According to Nwosu (1990), management function is aimed at making friends for an organization, retaining those friends and building internal and external goodwill on the reasonable assumption that this are strongly needed for an organization to remain in whatever business it is engaged in as well as grow and prosper in it. Therefore to prevent crime, the police has to partner and collaborate with the community in order to achieve the onerous task of fighting crime.
This forms the basis of police community relations committee when the police partner with the community by pooling resources together in order to provide a safe and secure environment. Black (1972) supports this view that community relating committee is the establishment of two way communication to resolve conflicts of interest and establishment of understanding based on truth, knowledge and full information. This is rational behind the reformatory role that police officers and members of community could accept each other as co-partners of the same community for the following reason:     
i)             To have understanding, so that they share their good interest together with members of the force. It is by doing this that both parties will work in one accord to fight crime proactive.
ii)            To enable police officers and members of the community live freely among themselves with out conflict no matter the social background of the parties.


2.1.2           POLICING IN THE COMMUNITY
Policing in the community is a modern democracies system introduced in Nigeria on 27 day of April 2004 by the president of the federal republic of Nigeria, chief. Olusegun Obasanjo. The Police Community relations committee is a philosophy to guide police management method policing, strategies and operations for effective performance thus police community relations committee is all upon active partnership between the police and the member of the community for effective dislodgement of criminals and other undesirable elements in the society..
          Hay word (1984) views such partnership as an organized two- way communication between the organization and the audience which is critical to the success of that organization. The institute of public relations sees it as a planned sustained effort to established and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and members of the public. Therefore police community relation committee is an innovation which largely, through over boards the inadequacies of the traditional policing system. Police community relation is democratic policing because it embraces all the democratic weal’s and principle such as:
I)             The strict observance of the rule of law

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