Inspector General Of Police, Ibrahim Idris Proposes Fresh Approach To Crime Fighting

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris has canvassed a fresh approach to battling kidnapping.

The fight against kidnapping, he said, would only be won if emphasis is placed on community policing.

Idris noted that security challenges confronting the country would be tackled if funding of the police and recruitment of officers are properly addressed.

The IG added that the police would soon organise a security summit  to address kidnapping.

He said beyond arrest of suspects, the police would intensify efforts in the prosecution of suspects in court.

The police boss spoke in Abuja yesterday at a meeting with Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs), Assistant Inspectors General (AIGs), Commissioners of Police and other senior officers.

On the spate of kidnapping with the latest victim being a retired Director of Department of State Services (DSS), Mike Ejiofor, the IG said: “Security is everybody’s business – both the police and the citizens. The kidnappers live among the people and that is why I said we are going to conduct a security summit to address most of the security challenges we are witnessing in this country.

“With the issue of kidnapping, what is obvious is that we cannot have policemen on every soil and that is why we always say that security is everybody’s business. Those communities around where kidnapping take place, if you suspect anybody, report to police because we have our presence in every local government of this country and they are ready to do their work.”

The IG, who admitted that the rate of kidnapping was worrisome, said: “It is becoming a worrisome situation and that is why we are trying to mobilise all sectors of the society to sit and address the issue of kidnapping.

“It goes beyond the role of police, it has gone beyond the role of community leaders, it has gone to the role of religious leaders, roles of people in schools and the kind of schools we enroll our children. I think these are things we need to address and I believe that with concerted efforts, we are going to see an end to kidnapping in this country.”

On other security measures put in place to tackle security threats, the IG said: “From our own end, we are trying to widen the scope of providing the security structures in various commands to be able to effectively tackle security challenges in this country and we have gotten a lot of offers in the areas of establishment of Mobile Police Squadrons.

“We established two Mobile Police Squadrons in Kafanchan and Minna and these measures are geared towards having structures on ground that can assist in addressing some of the security challenges we are having, especially in the area of herdsmen, cattle rustling, ethnic and religious clashes.”

On the essence of the oncoming summit, Idris said: “We are coming up with the summit because we want to discuss on a general platform how we are going to address some of the security issues. The reality is that you must have seen most of our presentations. When I went to Defence College, I told them that we can succeed with the issue of community policing when we address the ratio of one policeman to 400 citizens of this country.

“The summit will cover traditional rulers, religious leaders and every sector of the Nigerian community and that is an indication that security is everybody’s business. We all have a say in the security of this country because it requires joint effort.”

On the need to recruit more workforce, the police boss said: “Recruitment of Rank and File in this country stopped since 2010 and there is no way we can have an effective policing if we don’t have enough policemen to police the population and that is one of the areas  we are addressing now.

“This administration has come up with the recruitment of 10,000 police officers and we are going to ensure that every year, we address the issue of recruitment and these are strategic issues that should be addressed in order to tackle effectively the efficiency of the police.

The IG, who lamented on the funding of the force, said: “The police need more funding for it to perform more effectively and we believe that the Security Trust Fund, which is before the National Assembly, should be given speedy attention because I believe that should be the concern of every Nigerian now.

“In this country, they have created virtually new security outfits. I think the latest is in the pipeline which is Peace Corp instead of creating additional outfit, people still refer to the police to take care of every security challenge in this country and I believe it is time for us to address the requirement of the Police so that we can effectively tackle security challenges.”

thenation