Community Policing And Crime Control In Owerri Municipal Local Government Area Of Imo State

ABSTRACT

This work focused on community policing and crime reduction in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area of Imo State. The specific objectives are to ascertain the nature/extent of criminal activities in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area. To find out the effectiveness of community policing in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area;  to ascertain the contributions of the residents of Owerri Municipal towards community policing strategy of the police. Two hypotheses were formulated and tested in the course of this research. Relevant literature were reviewed. The researcher reviewed three theories but adopted the Broken Windows theory (BWT) as the theoretical framework to guide this work.  The research design for this work is the survey research design. The researcher purposively chose a sample of 325 respondents. The researcher adopted both the simple random sampling technique and proportionate sampling techniques. Data were gathered using questionnaire and interview guide. Data were presented using simple percentages and tables while the hypotheses were tested using the chi-square statistical tool. The study found that Effective community policing has led to effective crime control and also found that Ineffectiveness of the conventional Nigeria Police Force have led to the adoption of community policing.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Community policing is a philosophy and strategy of law enforcement that involves working closely with the community to prevent crime, reduce fear, and improve the quality of life in the community. It involves partnering with community members to identify and solve problems, address concerns, and develop strategies to increase communication and trust between law enforcement and the community.

Community policing as a concept evolved in United States of America during the civil rights movement in the 1990s to expose the weakness to the traditional policing mode. Individual elements to community policing, such as improvement in police community relations, emerged slowly from political and social upheavals surrounding the civil rights movement at that time. According to Yakoub (2020). The wide spread riots and protests against racial injustice brought government attention to the sources of racial discrimination tension including the police from there, the idea of community policing was born.

In Nigeria, the philosophy of community policing was embraced in 2004 as a pragmatic approach to police reform Nigeria faced with more. Sophisticated and more enterprising criminal threat. This approach recognizes the fact that police alone do not have necessary proactive or reactive capability, a capacity to the challenge (Dambazau 2020). To this end, community policing which involves the use of multi-agency and community collaboration through partnership has become imperative (DFD, 2019). Community policing have without doubt being embraced in Nigeria as an effective model of crime control. The principle of this philosophy are that policing should focus on partnership between the police, communities, civil society and development associations as a means of collectively ensuring safety and security in communities. It equally advocates that police should be highly be visible and accessible in communities through foot patrol and should integrate themselves into communities to ensure confidence and trust from communities (Okiro, 2007; Folashade, Okeshola & Mediara, 2018). As a corollary to Folashade et al (2018), The DFCD (2020) noted that community policing encompasses the idea that formal policing structures should be adequately skilled and work together to ensure community safety and finally that police need to be empowered and be accountable while policing community in order to jointly solve and help to reduce pressure on the police and to free them up and to face more serious crimes. It is therefore, imperative to critically examine the effectiveness of community policing in crime control in Nigeria. Hence, this work is argued at examining the effectiveness of community policing in crime control in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The Nigeria society is beset with enormous crime and social disorder which are major threat to lives and property in the country. The foremost state agency in the fight against crime and criminality is the police. Specifically the police Act (1990) in Igbo (2018) assigned the following functions to the Nigeria Police Force prevention and detention of crime, apprehension of offenders, protections of life and prosperity, preservation of law and order, due enforcement of laws and regulations with which they are directly charged. However, with this noble cause by Nigerian police, the realities on ground is that the Nigerian police force seem to be bedeviled by a number of problems which inhabit the effective discharge of the statutory function.  Issues ranging from shortage of staff, corruption in the system, shortage of equipment to lack of public corporation seem to be another issue being faced by the Nigerian police force.

The philosophy  and practice of Community policing as a veritable vehicle for police reform. It entails a systematic approach involving community partnership in creating a safe and secure for all in which people take active part in their own affairs. Community policing is simply police working in collaboration and understanding with the people or the community.

It’s based on this pedestal that this study set out to explain the effectiveness of Community policing and crime control in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area in Imo State, Nigeria. In spite the efforts of various police administrations to curb crime in Nigeria, crime and social disorder in Nigeria, it is obvious that there is still persistence of crime in the country. Thousands of lives and millions of naira worth of property are being lost as a result of one crime or the other. Some believed that the inability of the Nigeria police to ensure maximum security in the country is as a result of so many social and technical challenges ranging from lack of necessary tools to curb crime in the community and lack of maximum cooperation by the people in the communities ( Dawn Newspaper, 2019).

Corruption in the Nigeria police force is fueling abuses against ordinary citizens and severely undermining the rule of law in Nigeria on a daily basis. Numerous ordinary Nigerians have been accosted by countless armed police officers who specialized at demanding bribes and committing human rights abuses against by extorting money from them. These abuses range from ordinary arrest and unlawful detention to threats and acts of violence, including sexual assault, torture, and even extrajudicial killings (Human Rights Watch, 2018).

Police is not unique. Corruption is now rampant in the Nigeria police force. Various issues of corruption concerning the commission have been seen and reported. However, the issue of corruption in the Nigeria police as noted above cannot be treated in isolation of the larger society. Corruption in the police is so prevalent that it has destroyed people’s trust and confidence they have in the police. Because of this prevalence of corruption in Nigeria and in the force, this study then aimed at investigating the effect of community policing on crime in Nigeria. To this effect, the study addresses the following research questions.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions are put in place to guide this study:

1. what is the prevalence of community policing on crime reduction in Owerri Municipal Local Government Imo State, Nigeria?
2. what are the factors that affect community policing in Owerri Municipal Local Government Imo State, Nigeria?
3. what are the efforts taken by the government to ensure better community policing in Owerri Municipal Local Government Imo State, Nigeria?
4. What are the problems encountered by the police in the operation of the community policing strategy in Owerri Municipal?
5. How cordial is the relationship between the police and the residents of the Local Government?
6. How the residents of the Local Government perceive community policing?
7. What are the intervention strategies that can enhance the effectiveness of community policing in Owerri Municipal Local Government?

 1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The general objective of this study is to determine people’s perception on the effectiveness of community policing as a crime reduction strategy in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area. The specific objectives are as follows:

1. To ascertain the nature/extent of criminal activities in Owerri Municipal Local Government
2. To find out the effectiveness of community policing in Owerri Municipal Local Government
3. To ascertain the contributions of the residents of Owerri Municipal towards community policing strategy of the
4. To find out the problems faced by the police in the operation of community policing strategy in Owerri Municipal Local Government
5. To determine the nature of relationship between the police and residents of Owerri Municipal Local
6. To find out how the residents in the Local Government perceive community
7. To suggest other intervention strategies that may enhance community policing in Owerri Municipal Local Government

 1.5     HYPOTHESES

1. There is a significant relationship between the ineffectiveness of the conventional Nigeria Police Force and adoption of community policing.
2. There is a significant relationship between effective community policing And crime control

1.6     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This work has both academic and practical significance

Academic Significance

A lot of scholars have carried out related studies on community policing and crime control. Such scholars like Abdulraham (2019). Zumve (2019); and Folashade et al (2018) have all contributed immensely in the study of the effectiveness of community policing and crime control.

Despite the plethora of work done by these and other scholars, a lot of gap still exist. The has been that no such study has been carried on the area of focus (Owerri Municipal). Equally this present study is theoretically significant as it used large sample size that has characteristics representative of the target population.

This study also adopted both descriptive and empirical research approaches. This, theoretical significance of this study lies on its potentials to  extend the frontier of knowledge.

Practical Significance

This work is of great benefits to law enforcement agencies, correctional agencies, criminologists, advocate groups, sociologists, governments and the general public especially those who engaged in crime prevention and control. This this present study will help provide a nuance study analysis of the issue of policing and community policing most especially the benefits of this study will be felt when the report is published domiciled in the libraries and internet. Besides, the recommendations in the report will be useful to those who is engaged in similar research area or topic.

1.7   OPERATIONALIZATION OF CONCEPTS

Community Policing: A management strategy that promoted joint responsibility of citizens and the police for community safety, though working partnership and interpersonal contact.

Police: A state agency granted the legal authority enforce the law and maintain public order.

Informal police structures: These are groups such as neighbourhood/vigilante groups that engaged in the maintenance of law and order in the communities.

Crime: Any act or conduct of an individual or group in violation of criminal law.

Crime control: The reduction of the incidence of crime in an area to the barest minimum.

Effectiveness: The ability of something to produce a required effect or effects.

Pages:  66

Category: Project

Format:  Word & PDF               

Chapters: 1-5                                          

Source: Imsuinfo

Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.