Expert enjoins Police to meet dynamic policing challenges in a democracy

By Chukwuemeka Opara

The Nigerian police have been urged to confront the dynamic challenges of providing security in a modern-day democratic setting.

Prof. Theodore Maiyaki, the Chief Executive Officer of Colloquium Consults Investment Limited, gave the urge in Abakaliki on Monday during at a five-day training of officers of the Ebonyi police command.

Maiyaki said that the training which was supported by the Nigeria Police Trust Fund, aims at deepening the knowledge of police officers to achieve their constitutional mandates.

“Policing has changed dimension since the turn of the present democratic dispensation with constitutionalism bringing forth freedom and privileges.

“Crime has also changed colour from the advent of technology, millitancy, insurgency, and kidnapping, among others as a result of the democratic system of government.

“The police therefore should not remain in its old place but should respond appropriately or even go steps ahead of the sophistication of new forms of crimes,” he said.

He noted that training and re-training remain the best way to inculcate new policing strategies into the officers to face new realities.

“The participants would be trained in strategic reasoning, change in behaviour, attitudes and enhancing their capacities for maximum efficiency.

“The enthusiasm shown by the participants is a pointer that their capacities would be raised to approach their constitutional roles more effectively,” he said.

Mohammed Lawal, a Representative of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund, said the fund recognises the importance of training and re-training of police officers for optimal service delivery.

“We have been training police officers across the country as the participants are expected to be better policemen after the training.

“They should show the difference between trained officers and those not trained as participation cuts across the junior and senior cadres of the force,” he said.

Dr Celestine Ukaoma, a Representative of the state commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), urged the organisers to extend such training to the corps.

“Security agencies need constant training of its officers because crime has assumed a sophisticated dimension and officers need to keep pace,” he said.

Chinelo Ofoegbunam, the Register and Secretary of the Colloquium Consults limited, noted that the training would help the participants improve on their performances, especially in future elections.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the training is “Public order policing/crowd management protection.”

The participants were tutored by seasoned resource persons on the role of the police in democracy and good governance, its role in public order act of Nigeria, and crowd management among others.

(NAN)