Over Policing of Southeast Nigeria by Livy-Elcon Emereonye.

The American Heritage College dictionary defines police as, “The governmental department charged with the regulation and control of the affairs of a community, now chiefly the department established to maintain order, enforce the law, and prevent and detect crime.”

A police force is a constituted body of persons empowered by the state to enforce the law, protect property and limit civil disorder.

Functions of the police include:

*Preservation of the peace

*Prevention of robberies and other felonies

*Detection and committal of offenders

 

The primary responsibility of the police is to protect citizens from harm and danger, advocate for victims of crimes and promote the accountability of criminals by enforcing laws set forth by the city, state and country. The police are also responsible for responding to 911(emergency) calls, interviewing witnesses and victims of crimes, investigating crimes in an attempt to secure criminals and making arrests. 

The responsibilities of the police also extend to enforcing laws that exist by ensuring drivers are obeying traffic laws, patrolling high-traffic areas and communities within the department’s jurisdiction to protect the safety of community members and questioning suspicious activity while on patrol. Police are also responsible for responding to emergency situations that require medical attention and may need to perform first-aid duties until medical assistance arrives on the scene. Responsibilities of the police are often heightened during natural disasters. For example, the police may be called on to search homes for survivors following a tornado or earthquake. In addition, police are also responsible for maintaining order during riots or protests. To perform the job duties of a police officer, members of the police force train frequently on community safety, firearm use, laws and rules of order and ethics.

When police functions are carried out without fear or favour, there is peaceful coexistence, unity of purpose and meaningful development.

However, every form of adulteration is counterproductive. Abuse is inevitable where value is not known or when someone chooses to throw pearls to pigs. This happens at a great cost, loss – and this is the case where the police force have been corrupted by double standards and acts of mischief instead of working to preserve life and property through the maintenance of law and order.

It looks like there is an unpublished order that the Nigeria police should operate different laws for different people under different circumstances and places, bringing to bear different levels and cases of extortion and intimidation. What one police officer does in one place, he cannot and will not do in another place even under the same circumstance or worse case scenario.

Police brutality is common in Nigeria especially in Southeast and the most likely victim is the lower-class people of both sex that sometimes lead to painful “accidental discharge” with loss of innocent, helpless lives. This reckless behavior is undermining public confidence in law enforcement agencies across Igbo land.

The deliberate intimidation of Igbo people by Nigeria Police is everywhere. From north to south, east or west, the story is almost, always the same. For instance, “If you are travelling out of Lagos, the moment you want to turn at Ojota towards East, you will encounter the first police harassment; the moment you want to turn towards East at Shagamu, you will see the police again harassing East bound commuters; before Ijebu Ode and Ore, they are there; at Benin flyover, you will see ‘radio licence’ and police ‘everything’ through Agbo and Asaba; and finally at Bridge Head Onitsha, you will see them behaving as if they are sharing the spoils of war. They are doing one thing – extorting and harassing people.

From Onistha to Owerri, there may be more than 15 police check points, and from Ihiala to Umuezealla-Ogboko, there are about 5 police check points. The story is the same and even worse in some states and cities in Southeast Nigeria.

These police men are at check points for a common purpose – to intimidate and exploit the people. Those who pay are allowed to go and those who cannot pay are delayed unnecessarily. This is not only a security risk but an impediment to the business opportunities and interests in these places, and the people out of ignorance and fear succumb to these deliberate abuse and pay heavily for “free” movement. But coming out from Igbo land to any other region or zone, you will not be disturbed by police!

Commenting on the criminal acts of some police men in Igbo land, someone said, “When a police man is transferred to any of the cities in Igbo land, he celebrates; when he is transferred out, he moans; but when transferred to the North, he simply waits for his salary.”

This use of arbitrary force to extort motorists and travelers in Igbo land is a serious offence that must be addressed before it gets out of hand. The idea of turning the people into a starving cash cow by the police must stop.

The question now is: Why this over policing and militarization of Igbo land? What are our state governors doing about this abnormality designed to cage us and keep us in perpetual captive mentality?

If truly the state governor is the chief security officer, why can’t he call the police rank and file to order and put a stop on this abuse of the people by the police that is supposed to guide and protect them but go out to put them in bondage?