IGP: How N13bn approved for community policing will be spent

Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police, says the N13.3 billion approved by the federal government for the take-off of community policing will be spent on sensitisation, training and purchase of equipment.

Adamu spoke during a briefing by Mohammed Dingyadi, police affairs minister, on one year anniversary of the re-establishment of the ministry.

The inspector-general said state community policing advisory committees have also been inaugurated in all the states.

He said the committees will be saddled with the responsibility of identifying able-bodied men and train them as policing officers for their respective communities.

“The money is for the implementation of the project. It is a process. We have started it in terms of we are going to do town hall sensitization,” Adamu said.

“We are also doing training for community police officers. We are going to buy all the equipment that is needed and then the process goes on this year, next year until everything is established.

“Community policing is a strategy. It is not a new police structure that is being created but within the police, we re-strategise and then bring in community-based initiatives.

“The idea and what we are implementing is that the community should take responsibility for policing. The implementation has gone far.

“So far we have inaugurated state community policing advisory committees in all the states. And that advisory committee comprises the community leaders, representatives of faith-based organizations, representatives of market women, representatives of the national union of transport workers, students etc.

“At the local government level, we also have the same strategy represented by the same group of community leaders. At the local government level again we have community policing committee which will have the same people from the ward and villages.

“This committee is the one that would help us identify within the wards and the villages their own citizens and natives who are able-bodied. We would select them and train them as community policing officers and send them back to their communities where they come from. We have reached this stage already. Now we are at the stage of recruitment.”

Adamu noted that the policing committees would also receive reports of challenges and problems of crime within the communities through the community police officers.

“They would deliberate on these problems and see how they can solve the problem without necessarily bringing it to the DPO because it is a community-based initiative to deal with community issues,” he said.

He also warned vigilante groups against carrying prohibited firearms, saying anyone caught bearing arms without a licence will be arrested and prosecuted.