The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Disu, has said the Nigeria Police Force cannot effectively discharge its responsibilities without the cooperation and support of members of the public.
Disu stated this during a live television programme organised to commemorate the International Day of Police Cooperation, where he emphasised the importance of trust, accountability and collaboration between the police and the communities they serve.
The IGP described policing as a communal responsibility, noting that although police officers are employed and paid by the government to maintain law and order, members of the public also have critical roles to play in ensuring effective policing.
“Policing is a communal thing. We are just the ones paid by the government to put on the uniform and do the job 24 hours of the day. All of us are policemen and policewomen,” he said.
According to him, policing theories, including intelligence-led policing and policing by consent, ultimately depend on cooperation between the police and the public.
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He said policing by consent involves education, enlightenment and interaction, stressing that the community and the police are interdependent.
“It simply means you cannot police the people without the consent of the people. The consent of the people is the cooperation we are talking about. Are the people cooperating enough with the police?” Disu asked.
The IGP, however, acknowledged that public trust in the police remained low, although there had been some improvement in police-community relations due to the prevailing security challenges in the country.
“The people are beginning to cooperate better with the police. The people are beginning to see the importance of police officers and even other security agencies, especially with the security situation that we have in the country,” he said.
Disu admitted that some members of the public still lacked confidence in the police, while some officers continued to engage in misconduct.
“A lot of people do not have trust in the police. A lot of police officers are doing what they are not supposed to do. We do not have the expected trust that we should have. And without trust, without accountability, we cannot police. The trust between the community and the police is very, very low,” he stated.
He said that upon assuming office, he made a commitment to tackle impunity within the police and among members of the public.
“When I came, I said we are going to end, or we are going to try our best to end, impunity. Impunity on the part of the police and, at the same time, impunity on the part of the people,” he said.
Disu further highlighted mechanisms established by the Force to enable members of the public report misconduct by police officers.
According to him, the Monitoring Unit, X-Squad and Complaint Response Unit (CRU) are available to receive complaints against officers accused of misconduct, including extortion and other abuses.
“We now have the Monitoring Unit. We have the X-Squad. Then we have the CRU. That is the section where you can complain about all the activities of the police, police officers who are not doing what we expect, policemen who have caused trouble anywhere and policemen who have forcefully collected money from you,” he said.
The IGP urged members of the public to make use of the available complaint channels, stressing that effective policing requires a partnership between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve.
