INTRODUCTION
The police play important roles without which the sustenance of
order, legality, development and democracy may be difficult. Therefore, any
pro-poor change initiative must take account of the facilitative and inhibitive
roles, of the police in society. The primary role of police is policing -
securing compliance with existing laws and conformity \\ith precepts of social
order. But the police are not the only agency involved in policing, in the broad sense of the term.
Policing has always been necessary in ,ill societies for the preservation of
order, safety and social relations. The necessity of policing becomes even more
evident in modern societies characterized by diversities and contradictions
arising from population heterogeneity, urbanization, industrialization,
conflicting ideologies on appropriate sociopolitical and economic form of organization.
However, the emergence of the police, a body of men recruited and paid the
state to enforce law and maintain order, is a recent development in human
history (Reiner. 2000).
Traditional, policing was the responsibility of all adults in
community. In medieval society, all adult males are obliged to contribute
towards the prevention and control of crime and disorder under the systems of ‘hue,
cry and pursuit' and the "watch and ward that preceded the emergence of
specialized police forces as organs of the state. But the emergence of the
state, with its vast bureaucracies anchored on centralization, hierarchical authority/power
structure, and professional staff (Weber 1968) changed the traditional policing
philosophy rooted in the idea of policing as everybody's business. I he
emergence of the state as an entity with claim to the monopoly over the means
of legitimate violence in society (Weber 1968) resulted into the creation of
specialized agencies such as the police and the armed forces for controlling
the use of violence by other groups. According to Susan Martin (1990:6):
Police work invokes a variety of tasks and responsibilities.
Officers are expected to present crime, protect life and property, enforce the
laws, maintain peace and public order, and provide a wide range of services to
citizens ... A common trend unifying these diverse activities, however, is that
potential for violence and the need and right to use coercive means in order to
establish social control (Bitner. 1970). Understanding that the police act as
the representatives of the coercive potential of the state and the legitimate
users of force helps explain a number of their attitudes and characteristics.
Broadly, modern police forces are assigned the primary duty of law
enforcement and order maintenance. But the content of law and what constitute
order vary widely across time and nations, and are determined by the political
economy of societies. The concrete roles played by the police are defined by
law and conception of order in accordance \\ith the political and economic
interests of the dominant or ruling groups in society Robert Reiner (1993)
stresses this point:
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Modern societies are characterized by what can be termed police
fetishism the ideological assumption that the police are a functional
prerequisite of social order so that without a police force chaos would ensure.
In fact, many societies have existed without a formal police force of any kind,
and certainly without the present model. ... It is important to distinguish
between the ideas of 'police' and 'policing'. 'Police' refers to a particular
kind of social institution, while "policing" implies a set of
processes with specific social functions. 'Police are not found in every
society, and police organizations and personnel can have a variety of shilling
forms. 'Policing', however, is arguably a necessity in any social order, which
may be carried out by a number of different processes and institutional
arrangements. A state-organized specialist police organization of the modern is
only one example (emphasis added).
The police are agents of the state, established for the
maintenance of order and enforcement of law. Therefore, like the state, the
character, roles and priority of police forces arc determined by the political
and economic structures of their nations. Similarly the form and activities of
policing by state and non-state agencies are also dependent on the character
and composition of the political economy of society. The tasks of police are
dictated by the contradictions and conflict of interests among groups and
classes in society which if not regulated can threaten the preservation of the
prevailing social order or status quo . In very substantive ways, the police
mirror the contradictions and conflicts as well as human cooperation in
society. According to Coatman (1958:8)
... A
student of the political institutions of any country desirous of understanding
the "ethos" of an\ country's government can hardly do better than
make a close study of its police system, which will provide him with a good
measuring rod of the actual extent to which its government is free or authoritarian.
I he political economy frame of analysis is therefore appropriate to the
analysis of police and policing in any society. There are different political
economy models of analysis. However, there are common grounds among them, the
principal ones being
(I) that
there is intricate linkages between political and economic structures of
society:
(2) That
the political and economic structures of u society determine its general
values., cultures and norms as well as the direction and practice of
governance, and
(3) That a
more robust analysis of society is provided by an understanding of the linkages
between the economy and polity and their dialectical interrelations with other
structures and social institutions.
The most popular strand of political
economy is the Marxist model. Its main argument is summarized by the famous
statement by Karl Marx in the Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of
Political economy (1970).
According to Marx:
Between political and economic crises, and
policing. In analyzing the structure, roles.
performance and problems of 'police and policing in
the country. there is need to adopt a theoretical
frame of analysis that account for the structural (political economy) and
institutional (police functional management) factors. A discussion of police
and policing in the country during the
colonial and post-colonial periods within such a framework follows .
COLONIALISM
AND DEVELOPMENT POLICE IN NIGERIA
The British colonization of the different societies that presently)
constitute Nigeria began in 1961 from the territory of Lagos. By 1903, the
British colonizers had succeeded in colonizing all the nearly four hundred nationalities in the
country (Otite 1990). The colonizers executed
the colonial project employing violence and fraud or deceits. Scholars ha\e documented the history of police forces in
Nigeria from the beginning of colonialism in
1861 to the present (Tamuno 1970; Ahire 1991. 1993:Rotimi 1993: Alemika I993a). This therefore need not detain us here.
The establishment of police forces in colonial
Nigeria reflected administrative policy and
concerns. The indirect rule system \vas adopted as a means of reducing the cost
of miming the colonial bureaucracy. Police
forces were therefore established along the lines
dictated b\ the indirect rule policy. According to Tamuno ( 1970:90):
The Native Authority Ordinance (No. 4 of 1916)
conferred on the Native Authorities the
responsibility for maintaining order in their respective areas. Under it, they \\ere
allowed to prevent crime and arrest offenders by employing any person to assist them in carrying out their police
duties. Their police powers \\erc increased under the. Protectorate Laws
(Enforcement) Ordinance (no. 15 1924).
There is need to recognize and comprehend three important historical
factors that have shaped the development and character of police forces and police public relations in Nigeria. First, colonial conquest of Nigerian nationalities
took place piecemeal over a long period ( I86I-I903).
Nigeria's constituent nationalities were conquered at different period. .\s a nationality is conquered a British colonial
presence is established by creating a police
force for the territory. Second, violence and fraud were employed in the conquest of the nationalities and police forces under
various names were established and employed as
instrument of violence and oppression against the indigenous population. Third, given the character of colonial rule,
police forces were the instrument used to
sustain the alien domination.
The significance or these three factors is that during the
colonial era the police were not accountable to the colonized but to the
colonizers and their excesses against the
community were not controlled. As a result, the
colonial police forces behaved as 'army of
occupation", killing and maiming, and looting. These three features of
colonialism, led the public to regard colonial
police forces as their enemy, and as instrument of violence and subjugation: as extortionists and harbingers of
bad news and trouble. The perceptions of
police by the people were grounded in their experience of the use of the
military and constabulary forces during the earlier
phase of colonial campaign in
various areas
of the country such as Opobo. Benin. Niger confluence. Tamuno (1970, chapter) provides detailed
account of the use of colonial police forces to violently suppress workers" strike (1945. 1947. 1949). and
Women's riots ( 1929 - 1930: 1948)
COLONIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT
OF POLICE IN NIGERIAN
Well as communal riots in Kano (1953) and Tiv land (1959 - I960) resulting in deaths and destruction of property. Ever since successive police
forces and governments in the country have
frequently likewise deployed the police. The character and impact of colonial political
economy on policing and police were incisively captured by Onoge(l993:178) as follows:
The burden of colonial policing was the subordination of the
national interests of the people to the political and economic interest of the
state. Through armed patrols, raids, arrests
and detention, the colonial police protected the colonial economy by policing labour. Through the enforcement of
unpopular direct taxation, the raiding of
labour camps, and the violent suppression of strikes, the police ensured the creation, supply and discipline of the
proletarian labour force required h\ colonial
capitalism.
POLICE
IN POST COLONIAL NIGERIA 1960-66N
There is need for a clarification of the general impression held
in this country about the services provided by the departments of police and
Prisons. You will therefore have to examine the factors which have contributed
in producing a distorted image of the machinery for police administration in
the minds of the Nigerian public and formulate concrete proposals for
correcting any deficiencies. Similarly, Prisons administration appear defective
in certain respects.
There are far too many local authorities maintaining shabby and
ill-equipped maintained at the expense of other essential services from which
the general community could benefit immensely. It would be a more rational
policy for local authorities to concentrate on development schemes which are
designed to improve their communities rather than dissipate their energies and
resources in maintaining ill-equipped organizations for police and prisons
administration which could be better serviced by a central government
authority.
POLICE
BRUTALITY
Harassment and loss of personal liberties in the hands of the
police and sundry state “intelligence” and security agencies in the country
(Alemika 1993b: 208). Police repression (especially extra-judicial killings)
did not abate after an elected government came to power on May 29, 1999. a
press statement by the Force Police Public Relations Officer, in early January
2001 showed that from 15 August to 19 December 2000, 134 person were killed by
armed robbers while 320 others were injured: 88 policemen were injured and 29
other were killed by the robbers.
During the same period, however, the police killed 348 robbery
suspects. 6 an official police publication in Nigeria reported that: in a five
year period of 1996 – 2000 some 10,345 armed robbery cases were reported
nationwide, which led to the arrest of 13,365 suspects in the same period.
A total of 2.201 of the armed hoodlums lost their lives in gun
battle with the police as against 381 policemen killed by robbers while another
822 policemen sustained injury within the period under review 7
POLICE
CORRUPTION
Police corruption is another major hindrance to positive
contribution toward pro-poor change initiatives. Corruption and extortion are
widespread among the members of the Nigerian police force and have soiled their
image. While corruption is endemic in all segments of the Nigerian society, it
is particularly objectionable among the police because it is their occupational
responsibility to prevent and work at its elimination.
Alemika (1999:10) agues that: police corruption elicit serious
concern for three significant reasons. First, the police are expected to be
moral as well as law enforcement agents. If the police which are employed to
prevent and detect corruption, and bring culprits to corruption is guaranteed
to fail. Second, the police exercise powers that have profound implications for
the life, property, safety and freedoms of citizens. Where the exercise of such
powers in contraindicated by corrupt motives, the citizens feel exceedingly
vulnerable, insecure and powerless. Third, police corruption is often tantamous
to extortion, a form of robbery or demand with force. These dimensions of
police corruption explains why the public is threatened by such practices. The
most significant source of negative police community relation is corruption
motive is also a source of police individuals to succumb to demands for bribes,
and at some other time, it is a 6 the guardian (Nigeria) January 5, 2001, back
page
CONCLUSION
As a result of the history and character of police and policing in
the country, since the colonial era, the nation’s police force continues to be
confronted with failures in the following areas:-
1.
effectiveness
and efficiency in the prevention and control of crime, in the detection
apprehension and prosecution of offenders
2.
Scrupulous
observance of the rule of law;
3.
Recognition
and protection of the dignity and rights of citizens.
4.
accountability
of the citizens;
5.
civility
and incorruptibility
REFERENCE
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amalthouse Press limited)
Ahire, P.
T. (1991) Imperial Policing Milton Keynes:
Open University Press Ahire, P. T.
(1993) “Native Authority Police in Northern Nigeria:
End of an Era” in T. N. Tamuno et al eds. Police
Nigeria.
Akano, A.
O. (1993) “The Police, Rule of Law and Human rights: The Police perspective” in T. N. Tamuno et
al eds. Policing Nigeria.
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Alemika,
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