Nigeria Police Force and the Quest for Community Policing

The Nigeria Police Force is constitutionally responsible for the internal security of the country. Section 214 of 1999 constitution(as amended) and Part 2 of 2020 Police Act provide that the police shall be responsible for the internal security of the country, and no other police force shall be established. However, the police have not been able to live up to the expectations of protecting lives and properties of the citizens. Factors that militate against effective performance of these functions include, lack of training, poor infrastructure, shortage of personnel, poor remuneration, obsolete operational equipments, corruption, among others. Previous administrations have set up presidential committees on police reforms. The main objective of the study is to interrogate the factors that necessitate calls for police reform and why it has led to the introduction of community policing. The population of study is the Nigeria police. The study is anchored on democratic policing theory as theoretical framework. The study uses secondary source and employs descriptive method of analysis. Findings revealed citizens quest for community policing was due to inadequate police personnel and poor knowledge of the geography of host communities which has impacted negatively on the efforts of the police to tackle crimes. The conclusion from the findings was that police relationship with the public is at its lowest ebb due to corruption, lack of trust and human rights abuse which has deepened negative perceptions of the force. The study recommends that police should be strengthened through training, provision of modern equipment, and deployment of police to their local government, and government should fund community policing through which collaboration between the citizens and police could be strengthened.