Ogun: PCRC strengthens community policing with women, youths’ inclusion

The Chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) in Ogun State, Pastor Michael Lawson, says the body has evolved a new policy to expand the scope of its membership to women and youth organisations with a view to strengthening community policing in the state.

Lawson, who took over the committee’s leadership reins yesterday in Abeokuta, stressed the need for every household to participate in community policing if crime rates are to be reduced.

The Chairman also maintained that the PCRC was not a cult, as he insisted that the body houses all law-abiding members of the community. “We will be taking the PCRC to the next level. We want to adopt a new policy where every household will have one person as PCRC member. I believe with the involvement of the people in policing the community, crime will reduce minimally. So we will get the community more involved.

“We are also going to be driving new units across the state. We have organisations that do not identify with the police that we have to bring on board. There are organisations like the Federation of Muslim Women Association Nigeria (FOMWAN) and other women societies and youth bodies that we intend to bring on board to expand the scope of the PCRC,” Lawson said.

The immediate past Chairman of the body, who is now the National Vice Chairman, South West, Alhaji Ibrahim Olaniyan, disclosed that the PCRC had increased its membership to 500,000 in the state.

Olaniyan asked residents of the state to be more security-conscious and always assist security agencies with the needed information in the fight against crime.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ogun Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who said at the occasion that Ogun had the “most vibrant PCRC in Nigeria,” urged the new leadership to improve on cooperation between the command and the PCRC with a view to reducing crime in the state.