The President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima has alleged that deploying police officers from one region to another, such as sending a Hausa man to Imo State, is ineffective because the officers are unfamiliar with the local community and its dynamics.
He emphasized the urgent need for state police or community policing in Nigeria, stating that it is long overdue. He pointed out that in every developed nation, various policing outfits complement the efforts of the federal police. He advocated for community or state policing stating that such systems would complement the federal police’s efforts by providing essential local intelligence in apprehending criminals.
He said in an interview with The Sun, ”We are ripe for State police and it is long overdue for establishment of state police or community policing. In every developed nation, you don’t concentrate only on the Federal Police. In the United States, there are over seven outfits that I can remember that complement the efforts of the Federal Government. So, the case of Nigeria should not be different, especially as it is today.
You do not take a typical Hausa man to Imo state and you expect him to perform. It will not work because most of these jobs are done within the community and the crimes are being committed within the community. So, for me, if we have community policing or state policing, they will work to complement the efforts of the Federal police and pass necessary information that will help to fish out criminals because every criminal has a community.”
