BY SP Ebere Amaraizu,
Enugu State Police Command
According to dictionary, Crime is described as an illegal activity that involves breaking the law or an act considered morally wrong.
It is also seen as an action prohibited by law.
Frankly speaking, crime is regarded as a legal wrong in which its remedy is the punishment of the offender at the instance of the state.
It is also regarded as an ill wind that blows anybody any good because of its unpleasant consequences on the society, victim and even the perpetrator/s who always live in fear or try to hide from being fished out and made to face the law.
Traditionally, commission of any act which the society considers inimical such as stealing, killing of another as well as unlawful conversion of one”s property amongst others, are usually viewed as a taboo and offenders are visited with punishment such as banishment, payment of fine as well as blacklisting of such person in the community amongst others.
This clearly point to the fact that every society abhors crime.
Commission of crime is religiously wrong as no religion tolerates/condones commission of crime and deviant behaviours.
So many crime exist in our society today such as Armed Robbery, Kidnapping, Advance fee fraud also known as 419/Cyber crime, Burglary, Car snatching, Murder/Ritual killings, Cultism which has given birth to violence and every other crime including Gang Raping and intake of hard and dangerous substances amongst our youth just to mention but a few.
However, many are holding the view that Quest for getting rich quick syndrome amongst our youths, broken home/Divorce, poverty,unemployment, School Truancy, Peer, group influences, Greed, Taking laws into hands syndrome and others could be among the factors responsible for the commission of crime.
Indeed,none of these is capable of giving any justification for commission of any crime in the society.
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Prevention of crime in our society should be a collaborative effort of the Police and its the community which is the the cardinal ingredient of Community oriented policing.
The community policing according to Robert peel who also is regarded as the father of modern policing in one of his principles maintained that “The Police are the public and the public are the police”.
According to him,the concept of community policing is that Crime Prevention is not the sole responsibility of police officers but a collaborative effort between the police and the community as a whole.
For this to be effective,the police and the community must take ownership of the responsibilities and hold each other accountable for crime prevention.
There must be mutual trust between the community and the police.
The community oriented policing practice is all about problem solving in our community through partnership with the police.
Under this,problems are identified,Analysed,prioritized and finally members of the community are engaged meaning that police at all times should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police as provided by Robert peel in 1829.
The efforts of the Inspector General of police IGP Mohammed Adamu Abubakar at ensuring that activities of criminals are not only checkmated but prevented in our various communities through community policing is quite commendable.
He has also ensured that community policing takes off in all the states of the federation.
According to IGP Adamu Abubakar Mohammed,there will also be the establishment and utilization of special constables which would be tailored to align with the existing traditional security structure.
THE POLICE AND THE COMMUNITY MUST JOIN HANDS AND CLOSE RANKS TO ENSURE THAT OUR COMMUNITIES ARE SAFE AND SECURED UNDER THE TENET OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING AS MANY ILLS IN THE SOCIETY WILL BE EXPOSED AND ADDRESSED HEADLONG.
