By; ABDULL-AZEEZ AHMED KADIR.
Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello has identified community-policing as a veritable tool for accomplising public safety and fighting crime by the Nigerian Police Force.
He stated this on Monday during the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the 61 Police Mobile Force (PMF) Base in Kontagora.
According to a statement by Chief press Secretary to the governor, Mallam Jibrin Baba ndace, Sani Bello said that the quality of police-community relations often contributes to the ability of the Police to accomplish goals of public safety.
He stressed that public confidence in the Police would be enhanced when community policing is entrenched thereby assisting in curbing the rising profile of crime in the country.
“When the public is satisfied with and has confidence in the Police, they are more likely to offer information that may assist the Police in solving crimes.
“When community residents trust the Police, they are more willing to work with the Police to make improvements to neighbourhoods, therefore the need for Police to improve relationships with local communities,” the governor advised.
Gov. Sani Bello acknowledged the cordial relationship with all the security agencies in the state saying “I commend all officers and men of the security agencies in the state for the prompt way they have been in preventing and responding to challenges of breakdown of law and order”.
Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Kpotun Idris said the construction of an operational PFM base in Kontagora was in fulfilment of the promise he made at the inception of this administration.
This, he said is to facilitate timely and proper deployment of officers and men to any crises or incident within the state and neighbouring states.
The Police boss assured his officers and men that he would continue to invest in training and retraining the force to meet up with the ever transforming security challenges across the country.
Earlier, the state Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Zubairu Mu’azu commended the Inspector General of Police for approving the establishment of the base in Kontagora, noting that the base will go a long way in curtailing crime rate in the state.
The governor and IGP had earlier inspected the temporary site of the base at Tunganwawa before the ceremony.
