CRIME AND DISORDER PREVENTION REFLECTION ON POLICE STRATEGIES AND TACTICS (A CASE STUDY OF BAMENDA REGION)

ABSTRACT

This study examined “Crime and disorder prevention reflection on police strategies and tactics (a case study of BAMENDA REGION )”.  This research-work was designed to give an in–depth knowledge and analysis on the strategies adopted by and challenges confronting the Nigeria Police Force in their bid to control crime and criminalities.  The methodology employed in this study was survey method and its involves both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Primary data were collected from four hundred (400) Officers and Men of the Force, BAMENDA REGION , Plateau state, whom were selected at a random, with the aid of questionnaire and in – depth interview. Tables, graphics and simple percentage comparison were used to analyse the data and the following deductions and inferences were subsequently made. That, the Nigeria Police Force is confronted with a lot of challenges, ranging from: corruption and political influence, lack/shortage of manpower, poor welfare services and lack of modern/sophisticated crime control facilities/equipment. The paper therefore recommends among others; that the police should be free and independent from any ministry/political office; the police should have an annual recruitment process that will provide available qualitative and quantitative personnel; there is equally need for the provision of proper and qualitative welfare services to the force, and; the provision of needed facilities/equipment like modern weapons and taking due advantage of existing crime control gadgets to constantly checkmate criminal

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Crime is a very serious problem in the Nigerian society. In fact, it has affected all facet of social life to the extent that there is hardly a day that passes without reports of crime occurrences across the country. As observed by Dambazau (2007), the country has been on the world crime map since 1980s, and the types of crimes that are very common in country ranges from homicide, armed robbery, rape, housebreak, car theft, fraud, drug abuse, bribery and corruption, gambling, kidnapping, smuggling, human trafficking, drug trafficking, cyber crime, money laundering, advanced fee fraud (419) and more recently oil bunkering, and genocide activities by criminal herdsmen and boko haram terrorists.

Consequently, crime has constituted a threat to the economic, political and social security of Nigeria. It discourages both local and foreign investments, decreases the quality of life, destroys human and social capital, damages relationship between citizens and the states, and more so, it undermines the rule of law, democracy, and ability of the country to uphold development (Adebayo, 2013).

To tackle this menace, the Criminal Justice System (CJS) is empowered by the Nigerian government to check the scourge. Out of the three agencies of the CJS; police, courts, and the prisons, the police are at the forefront to control crime (Ofolokunbi, 1986). According to Section 214 (1) of the Nigerian constitution, the government of Nigeria only recognizes a single police force (Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and empowers it with the statutory responsibility of

“detection and prevention of crime, apprehending and prosecution of criminals, protection of lives and property of citizens, enforcement and maintenance of laws and order”. It was later in

1966 that the function of ensuring “free flow of traffic especially in cities was added (Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999).

However, as the Nigerian society progresses, especially with the advent of the present democratic system of government, new forms of violent crimes have also emerged and the society has become more insecure with many people getting involved in diverse sophisticated criminal activities (Bayley and Shearing, 2001). This poses as a serious challenge to the Nigeria Police Force in their attempt to control crime in the country. Daily, cases of crime are reported in the media, and in most instances, the police appear helpless to control the situation. In some instances, crimes do occur, and the presence of the police is not felt at all. This indicates that there are challenges confronting the police in their crime control initiative; thereby making them not to perform optimally in their constitutional task.

Based on the foregoing, this study seeks to examine crime and disorder prevention reflection on police strategies and tactics (a case study of BAMENDA REGION )

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The persistent security problems and the inability of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to control crime are worrisome. Among all the security agencies in the country, the NPF is mandated by the constitution to be at the forefront of supplying internal security and control crime. Sadly, in carrying out this mandate, the NPF appears incapable of controlling the enormous crime problems the country is facing presently. Daily, incidences of crime are occurring unabated. Instead of witnessing effective and efficient policing from the NPF, citizens and foreigners residing and doing business in the country are seeing a weak police force incapable of addressing existing and emerging crime problems in the country.

In Lagos state, the situation is not an exemption as crime has become a recurring decimal without effective and efficient response from the NPF to control the situation. Almost on a daily basis, the local government faces crime situations such as; theft, assassination, kidnapping, rape, burglary, and the likes. Yet in all these, there is no adequate policing from the NPF to stem the tide of crime. Annually, government at all levels provide huge budgets for security and through such financial provisions, claims are made that the NPF has been equipped to tackle crime problems. Furthermore, to buttress their claim, the media in some occasions showcase crime fighting equipment purchased and supplied by the government to the NPF to boost their crime control initiative. However, instead of witnessing a reduction in crime rate, the menace is still escalating at a frequency that is very alarming. It is on this note that this study emerged to examine the crime and disorder prevention reflection on police strategies and tactics (a case study of BAMENDA REGION )

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions guided this study

What are the strategies adopted by the NPF in crime control in Lagos?

What are the main challenges used the NPF in their bid to control crime in Lagos?

What are the possible solutions to address the challenges NPF are facing in their bid to control crime in Lagos?

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the study was to examine the  crime and disorder prevention reflection on police strategies and tactics (a case study of BAMENDA REGION ).   This objective was achieved in collaboration with the following specific objectives:

to examine the strategies adopted by the NPF in crime control in Lagos;

to examine the main challenges of the NPF in crime control in Lagos;

to proffer solutions that will serve as possible recommendations for the ameliorationof challenges confronting the NPF in crime control in Nigeria in general.