Police Inaugurate Community Policing Committee in Borno

Police Inaugurate Community Policing Committee in Borno

Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri

Community Policing Committee was yesterday inaugurated in troubled Borno State.

The state has been the worst hit by the over a decade-old Boko Haram crisis in the North-east region of the country.

The crisis has made several people orphans and widows, with two million people displaced and about 10 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Inaugurating the committee, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 15 Maiduguri, Lawan Ado, said the community policing would reduce crime beginning from the grassroots in the state.

The committee, which draws its membership from local hunters, civilian Joint Task Force, vigilance groups, and members of the civil society, is expected to work closely with traditional rulers to identify bad eggs in the society at the micro-level of the society.

The AIG said community policing is the new global way of combating crime in the society.

He said: “This has become the best global trend of combating crimes from the micro-level of the society,” stressing that: “Apart from the involvement of the conventional local security outfits, local women, traders, and community leaders too must buy into the new approach of crime prevention.

“The idea of community policing is to prevent crimes at the grassroots level, and this is going to be intelligence-driven. It is about a partnership with the community and collaboration with members of the society. This will go a long way in reducing crime and bringing about a new trend in policing.”

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Borno State Police Community Relations Committee, Alhaji Sanda Sheriff, said the inauguration of the committee was a milestone in the police-community relations in the state.

He said: “This will bring relief to us and engender better cooperation between the police and members of the society. In the past, there has been distrust between the two.

“But this inauguration of the community policing committee will bring about trust and cooperation.”

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