EFFECTIVE POLICING: A PANACEA FOR RESOLVING CONFLICT BETWEEN POLICEMEN AND THE PUBLIC

Abstract

The article studies police-public relations. It exposes the factors inherent in the structure and administration of the Nigerian Police Force that influence the conflicts encountered by field officers in their dealings with other citizens. Prominent among these factors are centralized police structure, failed recruitment system and most importantly, police improvisation to resolve crises where the law is silent. It finds out that effective policing is achievable in Nigeria only if the present central structure of the Force is decentralized to allow for State policing. This in turn will create space for community policing which would help to correct the flaws in police-civilian relations as it were in the present status quo. Among other things, the article recommends training and retraining of men of the Force and improved welfare packages as necessities that would enable the police overcome some of their excesses in the course of the discharge of their duties.