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| NEWS > 27 April 2008 |
Other related articles:
The force of humanity
They're reviled, but relied upon to keep the peace. Now one city is using culture to help hardened officers and head off corruption.
CIUDAD NEZAHUALCOYOTL, MEXICO — On a recent afternoon, two dozen municipal police officers glided around a classroom in their socks, 9 mm submachine guns and pistols slung at their hips.
"Don't be shy," said their instructor, encouraging them to slide their feet across a pile of brightly colored books strewn on the floor. "Let your toes do the exploring."
So what it this? A strange new fetish? Some eccentric fad?
... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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LeadershipNigeria
27 April 2008
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Building A Modern Police Force
In a bid to modernise the Nigeria Police Force to meet the challenges of security enforcement, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mike Okiro, announced the introduction of e-policing last month.
To make the desired impact, he said that computer literacy would soon be made compulsory for every policeman.
According to him, computer literacy will also be made a condition for enlistment into the force.
Okiro, who was touring police formations in Lagos, explained that the introduction of e-policing would enhance security management.
‘’We have to be in tune with modern development to enhance service delivery and remain useful and relevant,’’ he said.
As a first step, he said 20 police officers from each zonal command would be trained on computer and Internet facility.
They are in turn expected to train others at their respective commands.
The I-G said it was ‘’disheartening’’ that of the 440 policemen present during his visit, only about 40 per cent were computer literate.
To ease access to computer training, he said that the force had established a computer college in Abeokuta.
‘’Every police station across the country is expected to have Internet facility before the end of the year,’’ Okiro said, as he inaugurated an Informational Technology Centre at the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba.
The centre has an electronic file tracking system that makes it possible for complaints and crime files to be tracked from documentation, investigation to prosecution.
Okiro explained that the system would make it difficult for Investigating Police Officers (IPOs) to delay investigations into cases.
With the system accessible to everyone, he said that it would also be difficult for any IPO to claim that a case file was missing.
For analysts, such development is soothing, coming from a force notorious for the disappearance of case files.
According to Mr James Ani, a lawyer, such missing files are largely responsible for delays in the trial of cases.
‘’At the prisons, you have many inmates awaiting trial, but when you call up their cases, you are told that their case files are missing.’’
Ani says the situation is even worse for men and officers seeking claims, or relations of deceased seeking entitlements.
‘’At such times, people get frustrated because at every visit, you are told to open a new file as the one you opened earlier is missing,’’ he says.
To ease access to such files, Okiro also announced the establishment of new divisional offices.
The offices include Divisional Police Public Relations, Conflict Resolution, Pipeline Vandalism, Human Rights and Juveniles.
Others relate to old people, women and special welfare.
With this development, Okiro said that policing had been brought closer to the ordinary citizens as cases could easily be categorised and their files accessed.
‘’We receive cases of human rights abuses almost on a daily basis and sorting them out will now be easier since there will be a dedicated officer and a file,’’ he said.
According to him, the new arrangement has also removed the bottlenecks associated with seeking audience with the state commands on issues affecting the divisions.
The I-G noted that such bureaucracy had not only been costly, but also put the force in bad light.
As part of the police modernisation, Okiro announced some crime prevention strategies which included the establishment of six additional mobile force squadrons across the country.
The squadrons will be located in Abuja, Lagos, Rivers, Kaduna, Kano and Delta states.
‘’These states, being the economic nerve-centres of the country, must be policed effectively to provide an enabling environment for local and foreign investments to flourish,’’ the police boss said.
He expressed dismay that the existing squadrons had not been able to curtail the activities of criminals, as well as cases of ethnic uprising, boundary disputes, religious crises and militancy in the Niger Delta area.
Okiro, who noted that 80 per cent of the reported crimes were committed by youths, said that he had directed the formation of police football teams to comprise policemen and youths within each divisional police area.
‘’We expect that such interaction will serve as an avenue for information gathering from these useful members of the society.
‘’It will also serve as a means of keeping the most active members of the community away from criminality,’’ he said.
To strengthen and sustain the initiative, Okiro directed commissioners of police in the various states to donate trophies for football competition in their commands.
Okiro is expected to donate a trophy for a competition at the national level.
Also, as part of efforts to improve the public image of the policeman, Mr Israel Ajao, the immediate past AIG Zone II, said that the force was already working on training programmes.
Ajao told journalists in Abuja recently that the training would focus on ethics and dignity, crime operational strategies and diligent prosecution of criminals.
Mrs Gloria Egbuji, the Executive Director of an NGO, Crime Victims Foundation, who recently lauded Okiro’s efforts to modernise the force, said that such measures were ‘’long overdue’’.
According to her, crimes will be difficult to manage and control without such modernisation.
As a first step, Egbuji suggested that the names of all police personnel be stored in a computerised data system.
According to her, the present system does not ensure effective management of reported cases.
‘’When you report a case to the police, you cannot easily track it because you will not know when or where the case is being treated.
‘’The situation is the same when a petition is sent to a police station as one can hardly know where it is,’’ she said.
The director decried the poor state of facilities on ground and called for adequate equipment for the force.
Egbuji, who is worried about the poor state of the forensic equipment, noted that ‘’the forensic laboratory is a key component in crime detection, but it is in a total mess’’.
While calling for special attention for the forensic laboratory, she pointed out that it was the first step toward modernising the force.
‘’It is because of the poor state of the forensic system that suspects are subjected to so much torture in the country,’’ she said.
As government strives to reposition and re-engineer the force into a modern outfit, analysts have called for adequate support, especially in the area of funding.
They say that adequate funding will place the force in a good stead to combat crimes that are becoming more sophisticated by the day.
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