No fewer than 288 Special Constabulary (Community) Police Officers, who trained at the Police Training School, Odukpani, Cross River State have passed out.

Addressing the officers on Friday, the Inspector-General of Police IGP Mohammed A. Adamu, said the program was initiated as one of the strategies of the Nigeria Police designed to employ an all-inclusive mechanism to aid the police in the quest to achieve its internal security mandate in the country.

IGP represented by Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG Zaki M. Ahmed Zone 6 Calabar, said that the force took into consideration the increasing complexity of crime and the challenges of policing a vast and diverse country like ours and introduced the people oriented method that will bring about trust, consent and partnership between the police and the people.

In a statement made available to DAILY POST on Friday, the Zonal Police Public Relations officer, Zone 6 Headquarters DSP.Nelson Okpabi with reference no AZ:5300/ZPC.6/PPRD/VOL.4/27 dated 13th November, 2020 said it is for this reason that the Police Management considered the adoption of citizen-driven pathways for the purpose of identifying, dissecting and prioritizing security threats as well as working together to evolve strategies directed at tackling these threats.

“Consequently Community Policing Committees (CPC’s) with membership drawn from Traditional Institutions, Religious Bodies, Youth Organizations, Market Associations, Transport Unions, Artisans, Hunters, Farmers, Vigilante Groups, Hoteliers, Socio-Cultural Associations, Retired and Serving Security Agents, Educational Institutions etc were inaugurated earlier this year leading to the selection of the recruits for training.

“The duties of special constabulary include: Crime prevention and detection, Conflict Resolution, Intelligence Gathering, Law and Order maintenance, complementing the conventional police in patrol of the public space within their communities, advising the public on safety measures, security tips, dealing with minor offences/social vices, working with communities, schools, young people, businesses, religious/cultural groups, recreational centres and hospitality outfits as well as assisting in traffic management.

“The deployment of the special constabulary back to their various villages/towns and LGA’s will definitely free-up the human and material assets of the Nigeria Police currently tied down to the management of low level crimes and redirect such assets and Operations to high-profile crimes that constitute major threat to community safety and security”.

DailyPost