Community policing is about knowing your neighbours-Garba

Retired Capt. Aliyu Garba (Barden Bwari) is a community leader in Kubwa and the Grand Patron, Police Community Relations Committee in the FCT. He speaks with on community policing and activities of Okada operators. to remain in one particular place as long as possible.

The DPO should only be removed when he is due for retirement or is promoted, and he is to go for other assignment. But otherwise, nothing is wrong keeping a police officer working in a particular community.

Don’t you think if a police officer get so established or familiar to a particular area, such familiarity is likely to undermine his functions and he could compromise?

No, it could only be a disadvantage if the police authorities are not living up to their responsibilities.

Why I say this is because if the police are well catered for and everything is given to them as at when due, no policeman would take N20 from a motorcycle operator or a taxi driver. First of all, the government should realize that the police are the main point of internal security.

Therefore, the government must review their salaries and welfare because they deserve nothing but the best, if you want them to serve well.

Alot has been said about community policing, how well do you think it is being practiced in Kubwa?

The police always emphasize on this issue of community policing, but at the same time the police hierarchy contradicts what they say because they hardly put it into practice.

Why I say this is because whenever a new IGP comes, within the first and second months of his assumption of duty, he would reshuffle all the commissioners of police from one state to another, as well as the AIGs in charge of zones. He redeploys them and changes their places of work.

Immediately they get there within the first and second month, they reshuffle all the DPOs. Now, my concern here is, they always emphasize and talk about community policing but they contradict it. What I understand about community policing is to allow the police personnel from the Constable up to Inspector, and upto the DPO