10 Steps to Reforming the Police Yemi Ajayi

Given the myriad of challenges facing the police force, writes that steps have to be taken to reform the system in order to reposition the force for greater efficiency.

In the twilight of its tenure, the Eighth Senate passed the Police Reform Bill, 2019 that sought to reposition the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). Although the House of Representatives killed the bill by not giving the passage concurrence, it showed the concerns among stakeholders on the need to reform the NPF. The bill had sought to give Nigeria, among others, serviceoriented and modern police and set up guiding principles on efficiency and effectiveness; accountability, and transparency; protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms; and partnership with other security institutions to ensure effective policing in the country.

Notwithstanding the legal setback, the task of reforming the police, given the outcry against the abuse of power by the police personnel that led to the campaign for the abolition of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) and dismantling of checkpoints, remains urgent.

Those pushing for reforms highlight nine areas that could help change the fortunes of policing in the country Funding

Poor funding has severely hindered the effectiveness of the police and resulted in poor service delivery and bad behaviour by personnel. In most cases, police officers and men lack the basic tools to either fight or deter criminals. The nation, therefore, needs to find a creative way of funding the police beyond the budget. This is why the passage of the Police Trust Fund Bill, which levies the private sector and others to contribute to funding the NPF is a good decision. Curbing Abuses

Despite concerted efforts by the NPF leadership, cases of human rights abuses, such as indiscriminate arrests, intimidation and extortion as well as misuse of firearms are still rife in the police force. Though bail is acclaimed to be free, police officers and men still demand payment from suspects and their families. There is a need for a code of conduct, to be effectively enforced, to make officers and men take responsibility for their actions, especially in the areas of arrest and detention of persons and searches. Forensics

Over the years, the police have relied on the old strategy of extracting confessions from suspects, among others, to solve crimes. This ancient strategy often makes it difficult to either solve criminal cases or get conviction of suspects in court. Therefore, a reform of the NPF should include provisioning for the adoption of forensic science such as physical matching, fingerprint matching, hair and fibre analysis, DNA analysis etc not only to speed up the conclusion of investigation into crimes but also to enhance the accuracy of outcomes. Data Base of Criminals

Nigeria no doubt needs a data base of criminals to facilitate not only investigation of crimes, but also prevention. Such a data base stores information on suspects and their specialisations so that in case a particular crime is committed in a locality, an analysis of the modus operandi of the crime could provide a lead on possible suspects and enhance the arrest process and investigation. Central Fingerprint Centre

The federal government has over the years launched an array of projects aimed at capturing the biometrics of Nigerians. Such projects such as the national identity card, BVN, voter’s card registration entail capturing the face recognition of each person as well as their fingerprints. If properly harnessed, this scheme could be turned into a veritable data base to fight crime. A reform of the police should therefore exploit the opportunity provided by such projects to push for the establishment of a central fingerprint centre were the fingerprints of all participating Nigerians and others to be captured through other means can be stored and retrieve to match fingerprints obtained at crime scenes as a crimefighting tool. Training and Promotion

There is need to institute a tradition of regular training and merit-based promotion in the force. Currently, one big issue is low morale because many officers and skipped during promotion exercises. Welfare Matters

The poor funding of the NPF has resulted in creating financial crisis that has affected the ability of the police management to attend to the welfare of its personnel. Police personnel are poorly remunerated and many of them live in squalid conditions, especially in the barracks. This has resulted in the desperation to make money by all other means, largely illegal, to augment their earnings. Therefore, there is an urgent need to reform the system to improve welfare matters and reduce corruption in the police force. Enlarging the Workforce

With a staff strength of about 371,800 to police a population of about 200 million people, the NPF is largely overstretched. Many of its officers and men work unduly long hours and this impair their ability in effective crime investigation. Although there are plans to add 280,000 new hands to the current workforce, thereby boosting the manpower to 650,000, this is still far below the generally accepted police to civilian ratio of about 225 police officers for every 100,000 people. Nigeria therefore needs a reform to sustain an accretion of recruitments that will significantly increase the police workforce. Ethical Reorientation

Even with enough funding and right tools, the NPF might still remain ineffective without a reorientation campaign towards attitudinal change by its workforce. Many police officers and men, especially those on roadblock duty, often display nauseating beggarly attitude towards motorists, a conduct that undermines their authorities and ability to detect suspected criminals. In most cases, when they stop a motorist at a checkpoint, it is more for what monetary gifts they could extract from him than for crime prevention. As law enforcement agents, they need reorientation on how to conduct themselves in such a way that lends dignity and honour to their office. Setting up an Ombudsman

There is a need, under the police reform, for the establishment of an independent complaint authority to receive and investigate and effectively deal with complaints against police officers’ misconduct from the public. This is so because in most cases, the police authorities, except under pressure from the public, tend to sweep under the carpet, allegations of misconducts against their personnel. In some cases where they are forced to probe such claims against their personnel, the investigation is shoddily conducted or dragged on for so long that victims never get justice.