[center][size=14pt]State Police To Be Or Not?[/size][/center]

HE clamour for the establishment of state police has been on for a long time. Many will recall the role former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, played during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, how he tried endlessly to convince everybody on the need for states’ owned police force.

And in a way, the former governor almost put together a quasi-police with the creation of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA). A lot of people believed that the establishment of LASTMA by Tinubu was a surreptitious way of telling the Federal Government that he was determined to prove a point that the states need policemen of their own.

Arguments For State Police
Only recently, the Senate renewed the call for the creation of state police. This came in the wake of a bomb blast that rocked the Warri Government House annex in Delta State as stakeholders and other guests were holding talks on how to achieve permanent peace in the Niger Delta.

The intensity and the magnitude of the blast must have stunned many observers and which ultimately resulted in the renewed clamour for the establishment of state police as a means of strengthening security at state levels.

A number of the senators really supported the motion entitled: “Bomb attacks in Warri” being sponsored by Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba. In his comment, Senator Ike Ekweremadu noted that he was aware that a lot of Nigerians were opposed to state police, but that he believed that it was something that even when we run away from today, would eventually confront Nigerians in the future.

According to him, in the past, especially during the colonial days, there was the native authority police and there was no centralised police as we have now. He added that it was time the country started to consider this seriously to return to not only state police, but local government police as well. He noted further that every part of Nigeria had its own peculiar problem and that this peculiarity informs the need for them to have the type of police that would deal with issues that confront those sections.

On his part, Senator Effiong Bob said he believed that with state police, the level of criminal activities and other forms of hooliganism in states and local government areas would be reduced drastically.

And like many others who have added their voices to the issue of state police, the senators may have concluded that there is no alternative to the establishment of state police.
Arguments Against

However, the arguments against the establishment of state police may have informed the reluctance of the Federal Government in acceding to the clamour for it. It is generally believed that the governors of each state of the federation may turn such outfit into a terror tool with which they will fight oppositions in their states.


Not only this, the people who are against the establishment of the state-owned police are of the opinion that it may be counter-productive at the end of the day, as some of them may not conform to the established norms of a conventional police worldwide.

This is because the level of illiteracy and abrasiveness among Nigerians, particularly those to be recruited for such establishments, may have taken the usefulness of the state police away.

Besides, as some have rightly argued, the states, with the exception of a few, are too poor to finance a police that will conform with laid-down rules in a decent society.

Furthermore, those in this category expressed reservation about the current Nigeria police who are poorly paid, which in many ways, contributes to their apathy and inefficiency.

They also believed that a clear-cut demarcations may not be drawn between the Federal police and the state police which may cause clashes of work and interest.

Fear of Turning Into Ethic Militants
Many are quick to point to what could be regarded as an attempt at creating state police with some ethnic militias, like the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC), the Bakkassi Boys, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) and their likes and the atrocities that they each unleashed on their communities. These and many more were the reasons many canvassed against the establishment of the state police.

But to a lot of Nigerians, all these demerits are not enough to the establishment of the state police. Like the senators who contributed to the debate on the floor of the Senate recently, many Nigerians are of the opinion that the establishment of state police was long overdue.

The view is that it is the people of each state that could provide adequate security since they know each other better. In a way, they believed that criminal activities will continue to rise if the Federal Government did not deem it fit to allow states create their own police forces.

Nigerians Speak
Chief Niyi Akintola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in an interview with the Saturday Tribune, said no other country in the world centralised its police the way it was done in Nigeria.

He pointed out that the issue of centralising everything in Nigeria negates the principle of federalism which the country is practising, saying this is too dangerous for the country.
According to him, state police is not only desirable, but necessary.

He added that having a state police is a sine qua non for peace in the country. He said the country needed not only the state police, but also local government police, adding that anybody who is opposed to the creation of state police is an enemy of the people.

Akintola stated further that it was wrong to bring somebody from a distant state to come and police in a strange land, when he knew nothing about the place.

He said it is only the people in each state that could police their areas. He berated the Federal Government’s efforts at centralising everything, saying this had weakened the state.

He stated further that the argument against the establishment of state police that it may be abused


http://www.tribune.com.ng/sat/index.php/features/743-state-police-to-be-or-not.html

I am a die hard supporter of state and local government police. They are absolutely necessary! If the fear is that they could be abused, then let there be a law requiring all state and local government police to recruit officers and men from different parts of the country.
The benefits are too many. We cannot continue to allow fear rule our lives.

Don't we already have islamic police in states like Kano?

This is what the US and Uk practise. And its really helping them.
With this every police district have their duridiction and limit of movement.

If there is a federal law requiring every police formation in Nigeria to recruit from all over the country, the fear of a sharia or tribal police will fizzle out.

I can't imagine how kidnapping will survive in the south east if every local government has a police formation. Even state police can make kidnapping obsolete within a very short time because all they would be doing is local identification and beat runs. A policeman can know an area like the back of his hands. They also should not be quartered in barracks, but live among ordinary folks like is the practice abroad. A governor who wants to stamp our some of the most egregious crimes would have the power to do so.
I don't know how something so simple can be so complex for Nigerian leaders. I tire o!

We have too many graduates wasting away without jobs. They can be employed and trained to provide 21st century policing at the state and local government levels, like the ones below:

^^^
Can you compare those with the rag tap forces in the thread opener? No comparison whatsoever. All good things must begin at local levels. The Federal government can copy if they need to, not the other way round. That is what is called true federalism.

^^^

I don't think you even took the time to read my suggestion above before posting. Please read it again. What I'm recommending is the recruitment of police officers and men from all over the country to serve in states and local police formations-NOT LOCAL RECRUITMENT!
Nigerians are so lazy to read. Please read first.
How can such a force be used to carry out ethnic agenda? It's like saying the military or Nigerian police force could be used for ethnic agenda.
The only difference in this arrangement is that the police will be local and operate locally at local government or state level. Any posting would be within the state (not out of state, like posting from Rivers to Kano state! ) If all policemen also live among people and not in barracks, it will reduce the "we vs them" mentality of the Nigerian police.
All this does is to empower governors and local government chairmen (or Sheriff) to tackle crime at the very local level.
Tell me, where can a kidnapper hide when there are local sheriffs patrolling all the rural roads and bushes?

Please think before opposing. Nigerians have issues with thinking. Any new idea raises alarms of secession. I don't know for how long we can keep a foolish law enforcement system and expect peace and security which is needed for economic growth.
We need courageous leaders who can make revolutionary changes.

It also entails that a policeman in a state or local government must be able to speak the local language of his employment area. At that local level, intelligence gathering is impossible without the command of local language.

Also I would prefer they disband the current Nigerian police force and replace it with a force merging the SSS, FIIB, EFCC and NCDC. These are federal police formations. They should be plain clothed unless when conducting an operation -then they should be in full operation gear clearly marking them out as police.

The local cops should have both uniformed and plain cloth officers.

This is the way forward for Nigerian security. All these pre-1960 arrangements should be crapped and dumped into antiquity!

What I'm recommending is the recruitment of police officers and men from all over the country to serve in states -NOT LOCAL RECRUITMENT!



What sense does it make telling a man living in Maiduguri to come to Akwa 500 miles away for your so called  " NOT LOCAL RECRUITMENT DRIVE, it does not happen anywhere in the world. Local people are always the first to take any local job, to now start looking for policemen 400 to 600 miles away when the local populace has a chronic unemplyment problem smacks of weired thinking. I am sure u typed b4 thinking, anyway u are forgiving.  

^^^
So how do you recruit police officers in Nigeria today? Simple question.

Before going by a name KnowAll, be sure you actually know something. Don't allow your ego to come between you and common sense.
Nigerian Police Force recruits people from all over the country today. All we need is for states and local government areas to recruit the same way but do a better job of it by recruiting better people (eg graduates) who can learn the local language and patrol remote areas of the state and local towns. That is a no-brainer.
But, Nigerians carry huge ego that blocks their brains!

So how do you recruit police officers in Nigeria today? Simple question.



I have stated it needs to be revisited, check out my first post again. A committe just like the Uwais reports that drew the amendments for the constitution should be reconvened with the sole aim of redrafting and tweaking the charter of the Nigerian Police force.

The charter establishing it has being left untouched since the 1960's and needs to be reviewed and mordernised after all the 12 states created in 1967 has blossomed to 36 states today.

KnowAll:

So how do you recruit police officers in Nigeria today? Simple question.



I have stated it needs to be revisited, check out my first post again. A committe just like the Uwais reports that drew the amendments for the constitution should be reconvened with the sole aim of redrafting and tweaking the charter of the Nigerian Police force.

The charter establishing it has being left untouched since the 1960's and needs to be reviewed and mordernised after all the 12 states created in 1967 has blossomed to 36 states today.

So what happened to the Uwais report? I don't trust all these committees and their reports. We've had tonnes of them ever and none of them were implemented.
The message here is simple -to all on this forum who might have an idea of how to move this idea to the next level:

We need state police and local government police
To be recruited from across the country (like is done in US and elsewhere and even Nigeria)
The local authorities should decide (according to their budget and taste) the qualification of their policemen and the number to recruit.
The current NPF should be disbanded and replaced with another federal police probably called FEDPOL or FIIB bringing together -SSS, EFCC, FIIB and all similar formations. They should not wear uniforms except operational gears marking them out as police during operations,and should be armed with almost the same firepower as the military.

Local police should only be on patrol cars/vehicles and armed with hand guns, light assault weapons and batons (remember batons? ). They should also wear uniforms and patrol on feet, cars, motorcycles and bicycles in the rural areas. They should also carry walkie talkie. Bottomline is that they should know their operational areas well. The states can receive federal tokens, fixed (equal across all states) allocations of grants to support these local police forces.

The next is a change in our legal system to the effect that crimes should be broken into state and federal crimes. Some crimes like kidnapping, terrorism, hijacking and similar crimes should trigger the intervention of the federal police. While other crimes like armed robbery, theft, rape, secret cult, mugging, "alaye"ism and similar crimes should attract state or local government police.

I don't need another committee to tell me how to fix Nigeria's security problems.

Make me president of Nigeria today and I will deliver a first world security system in under 4 years!

@onlytruth

You should consider the mentality of the average Nigerian. We just love to make boundaries when there's no reason to. And we will never admit that a person is wrong as long as he belongs in my camp/state/ethnic grp. This affects almost every Nigerian. I see it on N/land daily. It affects our politics. That is why we have some states having a different legal system. That is why it is taking forever to empower th VP.

State police puts so much power in the hands of people like this.

So, who makes the rules for each state police to follow. I believe it has to be the state legislators. With the people in charge having this kind of mentality, this will eventually result in misuse of the state police for selfish gains.

Imagine the last ethnic/religious disturbance. If the people in charge of the state police are loyal to one of the warring groups, we can imagine what the outcome will be. Eventually, we will have states that operate their own bizarre laws, and i bet you will not be able to go to some states if they have that much freedom/power.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thank you my brother.

Onlytruth:

^^^

I don't think you even took the time to read my suggestion above before posting. Please read it again. What I'm recommending is the recruitment of police officers and men from all over the country to serve in states and local police formations-NOT LOCAL RECRUITMENT!
Nigerians are so lazy to read. Please read first.
How can such a force be used to carry out ethnic agenda? It's like saying the military or Nigerian police force could be used for ethnic agenda.
The only difference in this arrangement is that the police will be local and operate locally at local government or state level. Any posting would be within the state (not out of state, like posting from Rivers to Kano state! ) If all policemen also live among people and not in barracks, it will reduce the "we vs them" mentality of the Nigerian police.
All this does is to empower governors and local government chairmen (or Sheriff) to tackle crime at the very local level.
Tell me, where can a kidnapper hide when there are local sheriffs patrolling all the rural roads and bushes?

Please think before opposing. Nigerians have issues with thinking. Any new idea raises alarms of secession. I don't know for how long we can keep a foolish law enforcement system and expect peace and security which is needed for economic growth.
We need courageous leaders who can make revolutionary changes.

You do have some very valid points on the benefits of community based policing. But clearly there would have to be a total overhaul of the entire moribund recruitment, training and remuneration process that is currently operating, before such a system is put in place.

I feel this is a valid argument. My feeling about this issue, is that the states have a right to police themselves. Having a centralized police force, does not really make sense, due to the regional differences within the nation of Nigeria. Maybe it is due to me growing up in the U.S., but I find it inconceivable to have a centralized police force. Lets use the example of the United States. The crime rates throughout the United States is not uniform. Some areas such as the rural areas in the Midwest of America, do not have high rates of crime, unlike the urban enclaves on the Eastern seaboard of the nation. Plus, I feel having a centralized police force in Nigeria is suitable to dealing with the levels of crime within different regions. You have to have people who understand the region in order to tackle the levels of crime.

However, I am wary though if Nigeria implements local police forces, the political operations within each state would use the police force to intimidate political rivals. We already seen in some Eastern states that the governors and politicians use the vigilante groups operating within the region to intimidate their political rivals. A local police force would exasperate these problems.

Nevertheless, I am still of the opinion that Nigerian states should have their own police force.

While the idea of  State police is not a bad one,it is a bad idea in a country like Nigeria as long as the same cabals remain in power.

If the current office holders can use the Nigerian police to intimidate and kill ordinary citizens, what do you think corrupt state Governors and corrupt local govt chairmen will do if they have their own local police.

Trust me,except corrupt leaders are eliminated ,these state police will just become a killing tool for the Governors and the Local government chairmen.

There are many advanced countries that only have a federal police but they manage their country well. What our police needs is a reform. Government should put gradutes in the police service instead of uneducated people who are supposed to be working on farm somewhere in Umahia.The Nigerian police sees themselves as a FORCE hence the name Nigerian Police Force .This mentality is bad because in all other developed countries the Police is seen as a Service, it should be the Nigerian Police Service. They should not be grouped as part of the armed forces, they should be seen as part of the community.

Another problem is the lack of  proper training and specialization. In a country like South Africa where I live,they have the federal police which is referred to as the South African Police Service and they have state police (there are referred to as provincial police, because SA has provinces not states)

The Federal police (SAPS) handles criminal cases while the provincial police handles traffic and environment cases.In the federal police they have special units which focus on special kinds of crime e.g

despoil Squad
Robbery Squad
Burglary Squad
Hostage Unit (Negotiators e.t.c)
Armed Response squad
Patrol squad
Civil Squad
Fraud Squad
Homicide Squad
Cyber crime squad
Marine Squad
Sting squad
Special Tactics Unit (equivalent of US S.W.A.T)
Under cover squad
Bomb squad
Forensic Unit
Anti -Narcotics Unit
Airborne Unit
Surveillance Unit
Fugitive Recovery squad
Riot Squad
Tracker Unit
K-9 Squad (dog and handler)
Prostitution Squad
Human Trafficking Unit
Anti –Terrorism Squad

The list is very long but that is all i can recall for now. Nigeria probably does not have half of these units or squad. We need a leader who knows how to think deep before we can attempt to have a state police. Jonathan and his governors are too s.t.u.p.i.d and power hungry to be able to manage state police officers.

Thanks to all the unbiased commentators: EmperorOlu, UcheUwadi_, tensor777 and ziga.

Your points are well taken. I however think that we should not wait until all the crooked politicians are killed before we can have state and local police system in place. We may never even be able to kill off those guys. We need something now.

All it needs is a federal law or constitutional amendment specifically outlining the operational areas or boundaries of different police formations to be set up -the local police on the one hand, and the federal police on the other hand. Of course the federal police should always be better armed and better equipped. This would enable them step in to take over a situation and make necessary arrests in times of abuse as you fear.

No city or county police in the US can withstand the FBI for instance. Therefore the check would be there. We cannot throw away the baby with the bath water. There will always be governors, local govt chairmen who would be tempted to abuse their power, but they risk being arrested by the federal police and removed from office. The federal police will have a lot of firepower to step in whenever necessary.

I really think that this fear is unfounded because we have always had the Hisbah, Vigilante services in the east and LASTMA in Lagos. All that is needed is better training, better recruitment and better equipment for them. These bodies will sweep our streets and neighborhoods of criminals enabling all to walk around any time of the day or night.

Again we need to build more prisons and jails to contain the upsurge in arrests.

There is no amount of single federal police that can accomplish this task. Nigeria is unique and needs a combination of tactics. To reduce the task of policing 150 million west Africans to a single police formation is day dreaming. It can never contain the situation.

Onlytruth:

Thanks to all the unbiased commentators: EmperorOlu, UcheUwadi_, tensor777 and ziga.

Your points are well taken. I however think that we should not wait until all the crooked politicians are killed before we can have state and local police system in place. We may never even be able to kill off those guys. We need something now.

All it needs is a federal law or constitutional amendment specifically outlining the operational areas or boundaries of different police formations to be set up -the local police on the one hand, and the federal police on the other hand. Of course the federal police should always be better armed and better equipped. This would enable them step in to take over a situation and make necessary arrests in times of abuse as you fear.

No city or county police in the US can withstand the FBI for instance. Therefore the check would be there. We cannot throw away the baby with the bath water. There will always be governors, local govt chairmen who would be tempted to abuse their power, but they risk being arrested by the federal police and removed from office. The federal police will have a lot of firepower to step in whenever necessary.

I really think that this fear is unfounded because we have always had the Hisbah, Vigilante services in the east and LASTMA in Lagos. All that is needed is better training, better recruitment and better equipment for them. These bodies will sweep our streets and neighborhoods of criminals enabling all to walk around any time of the day or night.

Again we need to build more prisons and jails to contain the upsurge in arrests.

There is no amount of single federal police that can accomplish this task. Nigeria is unique and needs a combination of tactics. To reduce the task of policing 150 million west Africans to a single police formation is day dreaming. It can never contain the situation.

You have a strong point there but i don't really think firepower is the only answer. Dignity ,Respect ,Honour and the will to serve one’s country should be the answer. I think these men should undergo psychological training they will be "brainwashed to keep the rule of law.

I read somewhere that this is the method used by the Israeli Mossad, CIA, US Army ,Iranian special forces and Libya Guards to train their officials. Nigeria is a country suffering from severe moral decadence so i think we need to employ service psychologists who will “brainwash” the new recruits to be honest and keep order at all times. I know it sounds weird but if we really want this to work, we can’t afford to take half measures.

As for prisons, i will prefer that rapists, armed robbers and murderers be executed without any option of jail terms. Prison does not rehabilitate violent criminals; it just makes them worse besides our population is too much so why the tax payer’s money should be used to feed serial killers in Jail?

Onlytruth:

Thanks to all the unbiased commentators: EmperorOlu, UcheUwadi_, tensor777 and ziga.

Your points are well taken. I however think that we should not wait until all the crooked politicians are killed before we can have state and local police system in place.
. The federal police will have a lot of firepower to step in whenever necessary.

IAgain we need to build more prisons and jails to contain the upsurge in arrests.

There is no amount of single federal police that can accomplish this task. Nigeria is unique and needs a combination of tactics. To reduce the task of policing 150 million west Africans to a single police formation is day dreaming. It can never contain the situation.

You are still spot on with your points. Of course there are a lot of commentators here who would say that we should kill all the crooked politicians before anything progressive is implenented in Nigeria. That in my view is just a call to do nothing. We are dealing with the here and now.

Clearly training and equipping the police is vital; and because of the nature of Nigerian society there has to be emphasis on the management and control of lethal firepower on the one hand and intelligence gathering on the other hand