Community Policing in Nigeria: Transplanting A Questionable Model

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue VII, July 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Community Policing in Nigeria: Transplanting A Questionable Model

Egbo, Ken Amaechi and Akan, Kevin Akpanke
Department of Criminology and Security Studies, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State Nigeria.

Abstract
Studies on community policing program philosophy have shown the model to be problematic and highly questionable and could not be transplanted to other societies without regard to their different environmental contexts. Studies in previous efforts to implement community policing in Nigeria show that these initiatives have not only been bedeviled by factors which have proven so troublesome for the community policing model elsewhere, but also by the socio-cultural ethos of Nigerian population, the territory’s unique political and economic position and the institutionalization of the Nigerian Police’s paramilitary traditions. This paper examines the experience of community policing in Nigeria as well as problems in implementing community policing program philosophy. The article not only provides a further illustration of the questionable nature of the community policing model, but also illustrates how and why policy making should always take into account local conditions instead of simply borrowing foreign models. The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) since1960s has developed along paramilitary structure

Keywords: Nigeria, community policing, program philosophy, initiatives

Introduction

Community as a concept is contested and its definition is informed by which perspective is viewed. Mawby (1990:170) observed that community should be assessed based on criteria like territory, shared history, a common culture, or an established relationship. Ekong (2003:67-8) has defined community as an aggregation of families habitually living together within a definite geographical location more or less rooted in the soil they occupy, living in a state of mutual interdependence, supporting some basic social institutions and having some measure of political autonomy in relation to other communities. Ekong (2003) added that community comprises people within a common locality having shared interests and behavioural patterns, manifest mainly in the areas of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, socialization, social control, social participation and mutual support. Wilmot (1987) cited in Walklate, (2006:171)
Similarly, some of the most important scholarship in community policing today is centered on the needs for successful evaluation designs to monitor the effectiveness of community policing programs. Some writers have sought to address the limited use of experimental research designs in carrying out research on community policing.

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