Abia command task monarchs on community policing, inaugurate committees

Okey Sampson, Umuahia

Abia state commissioner of police, Janet Agbede has tasked traditional
rulers and other stake holders including PCRC members on the need to
partner the police in the fight against insecurity in the state.

The partnering, CP Agbede said could be in terms of information
gathering, nipping in the bud security threats and other areas of
crime fighting.

Agbede, who gave the task during the inauguration of the Police
Community Policing Committee (PCPC), at the Police Area Command, Aba,
said community policing had been an age long initiative that has
helped police round the globe to fight crime.

The CP, represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of
operations, Sani Salihu, lamented lack of adequate manpower as the
major constraint bedevilling the command, adding that the constriction
has necessitated the need for community policing.

“If we have enough manpower to take care of crime in the society, we
may not need community policing, but the problem is that the number of
policemen we have in the federation is not enough.

“You can imagine that in a country of over 200 million people, the
number of policemen is not up to 400,000. When you do the ratio, how
many number of the public is to a policeman?

“The UN ratio is 25 persons to one policeman. This is in the event of
the policemen being well trained, adequately equipped and well
remunerated. Then, you can compare this with the situation we have in
Nigeria”.

The CP urged residents of the state not to be afraid to volunteer
information about suspected criminal activities to the police,
assuring of the confidentiality of such information.

The committees were simultaneously inaugurated in the three senatorial
zones of the state, while the state committee would be inaugurated on
July 29 in Umuahia.