Assessment of Residents’ Perception of Community Policing in Ilorin, Kwara State
Chapter One
Objectives
Main Objective
This study sought to analyze residents’ perception on community policing in Ilorin.
Specific Objectives
- To analyze the effectiveness of joint community-police patrols in prevention crime rate by citizens of Ilorin.
- To investigate the effectiveness of youth vigilante as a means of crime prevention in Ilorin
- To analyse the role played by community in community court process to reduce crimes in Ilorin
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
An Overview of Community Policing
The foundations of a successful community policing strategy are the close, mutually beneficial ties between police and community members. Community policing consists of two complementary core components, community partnership and problem solving. To develop community partnership, police must develop positive relationships with the community, must involve the community in the quest for better crime control and prevention, and must pool their resources with those of the community to address the most urgent concerns of community members. Problem solving is the process through which the specific concerns of communities are identified and through which the most appropriate remedies to abate these problems are found.
Community policing does not imply that police are no longer in authority or that the primary duty of preserving law and order is subordinated. However, tapping into the expertise and resources that exist within communities will relieve police of some of their burdens. Local government officials, social agencies, schools, church groups, business people—all those who work and live in the community and have a stake in its development—will share responsibility for finding workable solutions to problems that detract from the safety and security of the community.
The goal of community policing is to reduce crime and disorder by carefully examining the characteristics of problems in neighborhoods and then applying appropriate problem-solving remedies. The “community” for which a patrol officer is given responsibility should be a small, well-defined geographical area. Beats should be configured in a manner that preserves, as much as possible, the unique geographical and social characteristics of neighborhoods while still allowing efficient service.
Patrol officers are the primary providers of police services and have the most extensive contact with community members. In community policing efforts, they will provide the bulk of the daily policing needs of the community, and they will be assisted by immediate supervisors, other police units, and appropriate government and social agencies. Upper level managers and command staff will be responsible for ensuring that the entire organization backs the efforts of patrol officers.
Effective community policing depends on optimizing positive contact between patrol officers and community members. Patrol cars are only one method of conveying police services. Police departments may supplement automobile patrols with foot, bicycle, scooter, and horseback patrols, as well as adding “mini-stations” to bring police closer to the community. Regular community meetings and forums will afford police and community members an opportunity to air concerns and find ways to address them.
Officers working long-term assignments on the same shift and beat will become familiar figures to community members and will become aware of the day-to-day workings of the community. This increased police presence is an initial move in establishing trust and serves to reduce fear of crime among community members, which, in turn, helps create neighborhood security. Fear must be reduced if community members are to participate actively in policing. People will not act if they feel that their actions will jeopardize their safety.
Although the delivery of police services is organized by geographic area, a community may encompass widely diverse cultures, values, and concerns, particularly in urban settings. A community consists of more than just the local government and the neighborhood residents. Churches, schools, hospitals, social groups, private and public agencies, and those who work in the area are also vital members of the community. In addition, those who visit for cultural or recreational purposes or provide services to the area are also concerned with the safety and security of the neighborhood. Including these “communities of interest” in efforts to address problems of crime and disorder can expand the resource base of the community.
Concerns and priorities will vary within and among these communities of interest. Some communities of interest are long-lasting and were formed around racial, ethnic, occupational lines, or a common history, church, or school. Others form and reform as new problems is identified and addressed. Interest groups within communities can be in opposition to one another—sometimes in violent opposition. Intercommunity disputes have been common in large urban centers, especially in times of changing demographics and population migrations.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Maykut, (2018), defines research design employed as a blue-print, dealt with at least four problems: questions studied, relevant data, data to collected, how the data was analyzed and the research design which was adopted. According to Robson, (2013), Quantitative design enabled the researcher to find out the answer to the inquiry through numerical evidence while qualitative research design enabled the researcher to provide a complete and detailed description of the research topic. Qualitative is usually more exploratory in the nature. The study employed quantitative design to establish opinions and knowledge about the government and community members and their contribution on the community policing. The qualitative design helped the researcher to investigate how the government security agency and the community in general could come together to reduce crime rates through community policing in Ilorin.
Study Area
According to the annual police report 2014, Ilorin (Appendix I) was rated second with the highest crime rate. Consequently, Ilorin was among the best villages to carry out crime prevention research methods and their efficacy in crime prevention. For that reason, the study was confined within Ilorin in Kwara state. In this area community policing initiative (Nyumba Kumi) is ongoing to curb crimes in most of the wards and locations. The choice of the location was also influenced by the fact that it was within a close proximity to the residence of the researcher and Mount Nigeria University which minimizes transport cost during the research.
According to L.G.A. Government of Ilorin report (http://www.Ilorin.go.ke/About.html),
Ilorin borders Nyeri L.G.A., Murang’a L.G.A. and Embu L.G.A. It covers an area of 1,478.1 square kilometers. The L.G.A. lies between 1,158 meters and 5,380 meters above sea level in the South and at the Peak of Mt. Nigeria respectively. Mt. Nigeria which lies on the northern side greatly influences the landscape of the L.G.A. as well as other topographical features.
The snow melting from the mountain forms the water tower for the rivers that drain in the L.G.A. and other areas that lie south and west of the L.G.A. The L.G.A. can be divided into three ecological zones; the lowland areas, the midland areas and the highlands. The L.G.A. is well endowed with a thick, indigenous forest with unique types of trees covering Mt. Nigeria. Mt. Nigeria Forest covers 350.7 Km2 and is inhabited by a variety of wildlife including elephants, buffaloes, monkeys, bushbucks and colorful birds while the lower parts of the forest zone provides grazing land for livestock.
The rich flora and fauna within the forest coupled with mountain climbing are a great potential for tourist activities. The L.G.A. has six major rivers namely; Sagana, Nyamindi, Rupingazi,
Thiba, Rwamuthambi and Ragati, all of which drain into the Tana River. These rivers are the principal source of water in the L.G.A. The water from these rivers has been harnessed through canals to support irrigation at the lower zones of the L.G.A.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Response Rate
Out of 200 questionnaires sent out to individual youths, there was a positive a response rate of 180 representing 90 %. This was a very good response rate which is more than two thirds of all the respondents.
Awareness of the Initiative
It critically analyze how dissemination of the Community Policing and how it plays role of curbing insecurity in the grass-root level.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
The study analysed the data and found that community policing is highly effective though crime continues to raise calling for more interventions to address the emerging challenges which include but not limited to technological social and economic challenges with a bearing to the performance of the police in engaging the community in policing affairs
The vigilante groups comprised of young people most of who are not engaged in any economic activity but supports their parents either in business or in the farming activities. The group plays a major role in community policing.
According to Baker (2008) level of education, empowerment and capacity building by the community leaders and government social department is crucial in community policing. Knowledge and attitude change is essential in enhancing effective and efficient communication between the community and police officers who may be of different ethnic background. This resonates well with the finding that the wards with the highest crime are those with the poorer economic performance and with lower education level in the L.G.A.. The education of police officers and the level of their training was not researched. Community traditional courts play a valuable role in dispute resolution helping to curb crimes of retaliations and is cost effective.
The study established that community members who live in gated community do not embrace community policing since they argue that they are able to engage their own private security guards and that they pay taxes to the government to provide security. Those who live in gated community do not allow those other citizens entry to their homes citing security reasons, they maintain gatemen and or electric fence. This leads to impediments in implementation of community policing initiatives as they view it as a system for the poor or the less advantaged persons. This collaborates with Maina (2014) findings.
The study established that the number of community members who are aware of community policing was higher than that of those who were not aware though, the level of participation in community policing was very low.
Community empowerment, awareness programs and capacity building is necessary to influence community participation to make community policing a success.
As identified and clearly stated out by the Beureau of Justice (2014), the trust between the police and the community remains low and may require further research.
Conclusion
As supported by Mwaura (2014) study on the factors that affect effective implementation of of community policing in Kajiado North and who established that community-police partnerships are critical in crime reduction, I conclude that the government should strengthen the adoption of community policing as a style of policing through budgetary allocations to cater for community policing forum members and informers. Specifically, the findings support the need for strengthening the role of joint police-community patrols as well as the engagement of vigilante groups and community courts. Government should also ensure an enabling legislative and administrative environment, increase police resources such as personnel and equipment and provide training to foster sensitization on community policing for police and community policing forums members. An adequate level of deployment of police officers improves the level of security. Issues such as proper coordination between the police and the provincial administration, support of community policing by L.G.A. government, streamlining appointment of community policing forums members and village elders and offering identification to community policing forums members should be considered. The disabled members of the society should also be incorporated into community policing forums while integration among inhabitants to address ethnicity and cultural differences should be actively fostered. Community policing forums should also enjoin more young people and female residents. Police should improve on the integrity levels by sensitizing junior officers on its benefits to community policing and to general crime reduction.
Recommendations
The recommendation of this report agrees with Njirii (2014) that community policing is a success and plays a major role in crime prevention. The community awareness on community policing is very high but the implementation leaves a gap that can be fully eliminated if the community and the police can bond and build trust, have police officers trained specifically on community policing and community leaders be inducted on how to work with the police through modern communication technology and on how to relate to prevent crime.
Vigilante groups and traditional courts though play a major role and community policing leaves a gap that require research regarding the mood of appointing those who participate and best way to reward those youths and elders who work tirelessly without any pay for the safety and comfort of others in crime prevention.
The study further recommends that to ensure proper communication, mechanisms should be put in place to train community leaders including vigilante groups on modern technological communication and avail modern facilities like smart phones and motorcycles.
To this end, this study therefore recommends more similar research to be conducted not only in Ilorin but the whole country to assess the challenges faced during the implementation of Community policing Initiative by the Department of Internal Security as well as Government agencies.
References
- Baker, L. (2008). Community policing: A practical guide for police officials. Nova Publishers.
- Maina, J. (2014). Community policing initiatives and crime prevention: A case study of gated communities in Nairobi. Journal of Urban Security, 10(2), 45-56.
- Bureau of Justice. (2014). Public attitudes toward the police. U.S. Department of Justice.
- Mwaura, P. (2014). Enhancing community-police partnerships: Lessons from Kajiado North. International Journal of Community Policing, 6(3), 78-89.
- Njirii, M. (2014). The effectiveness of community policing in crime prevention: A case study of Ilorin. Journal of Law Enforcement Studies, 20(1), 110-125.
