Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta on Wednesday announced the deployment of 378 special constabularies to serve in their respective communities in line with the Community Policing Policy of the Federal Government.
Okowa made the announcement at the Police Community Sensitisation and Awareness Campaign, organised by the Nigeria Police and the Delta Government in Asaba.
Okowa, represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr Chiedu Ebie, said the constabularies were deployed to their own communities to cultivate ties and affinity with community leaders in a bid to ensure security of the community and the state in general.
He said the state government explored the opportunity provided by the South South town hall meeting held in 2019 when the Inspector General of Police (IGP) rolled out the concept of community policing in the face of rising insecurity and crime.
“I am glad that the issue of community policing has progressed from a mere thought into a reality with the recruitment and training of over 10,000 constabularies nationwide,” he said.
He commended President Buhari and the IGP, adding that the police must appreciate the fact that the citizenry demand trust and a better relationship with them.
“I therefore urge all the newly recruited special constabularies to see their task as one that places a responsibility of trust and of service,” Okowa said.
He assured that his administration would work closely with the police by adopting the new approach of fighting crimes in the state.
The governor said that the new constabularies had been well trained to work directly with the police and other security agencies to nip and check crimes and other social vices in the various communities and the state.
The Chairman of the occasion, Retired DIG Sotonye Nwakama, urged the police to ensure fairness and adopt a new approach as enshrined in community policing.
According to him, community policing has three essential components; partnership, problem solving and organisational transformation.
Nwakama noted that adopting the three components of community policing would enable the police become successful in redefining the current animosity between them and the people.
He said that it has become a law for the police to partner the community, learn to respect the rule of law and the demands of the people.
“Community policing has been embedded in the law of our country, in Section 4 of the new police Act 2020, an additional responsibilities had been placed on the police to partner with the community.
“We are going to make this change from the reactive policing which dated back to the colonial days to community policing that is more service oriented,” Nwakama said.
Speaking on behalf of the constabularies, Constable Monday Chukwuji, thanked the governor for the opportunity to serve and pledged their resolve and commitment to ensure that crimes and criminality were checked.
“We have been trained and we now have good knowledge to support the police in checking crimes in our various communities,” he said.
