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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