Managing police personnel for effective crime control in Nigeria

Transcription

1 Article Managing police personnel for effective crime control in Nigeria International Journal of Police Science & Management 2017, Vol. 19(1) ª The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalspermissions.nav DOI: / journals.sagepub.com/home/psm Eke Chijioke Chinwokwu Federal University Lafia, Lafia, Nasarawa, Nigeria Abstract This study examines the ways in which police authorities manage their personnel, as well as the factors militating against police authorities in managing their personnel for effective crime control and prevention in Nigeria. The study used both quantitative and qualitative designs to attempt to identify the criteria used in posting police officers. Data were obtained through questionnaires from 360 randomly selected respondents complemented by 15 in-depth interviews (IDI) undertaken in three geo-political regions in Nigeria namely: southeast, southwest and north central. The three geopolitical regions were purposively chosen based on the incidences of armed robbery recorded in each. The study also used secondary data sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics and the Nigeria Police Force as reference materials. Simple percentages and chi-squared tests were employed to analyse the collected data. The qualitative data were content analysed. The findings revealed that factors such as crime rate, population size, industrial development and land mass or political interference were not clearly defined criteria used in the posting of personnel. The number of police in a region does not equate to more or less crime; effective crime control and prevention depend on proper and effective utilization, as well as management, of police personnel. Police authorities are culpable of mismanagement of police personnel for personal gain to the detriment of citizens; most states are under-policed and under-staffed. This study also found that factors militating against the effective utilization and management of police personnel include: corruption, political interference, ethno-religious consideration, lack of funds and lack of facilities. Thus, the study recommends among other things, that the distribution of police personnel should be anchored to the population size, industrialization and volume of criminality in a particular place; there should be a gross reduction in the numbers of personnel attached to political officials, whereas those attached to individuals who are not entitled to personal police protection must be withdrawn and efforts made to recruit more people into the police force. Keywords Management, police personnel, crime control, Nigeria, crime rate Submitted 26 Sep 2016, accepted 16 Oct 2016 Introduction and background to the study There can be no socio-economic development in any nation without domestic peace, law and order. Therefore, the primary task of the police in internal security is one of crime control and prevention, as well as the maintenance of law and order (Okiro, 2008). A police force is an agency of government given responsibility for maintaining public order and security. It is just one aspect of the criminal justice system, but its unique responsibility makes it indispensable; without the police, the others courts and prisons are inadequate or incapacitated. The unique position of the police places them closest to the populace as the chief enforcer of all government rules and regulations. However, in an attempt to fight crime in Nigeria, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has demonstrated clearly that it is ineffective and inefficient in maintaining law and order (Iwarimie- Jaja, 2006, cited in Ebeniro, 2011: 31). This apparent Corresponding author: Eke Chijioke Chinwokwu, Federal University Lafia, Akun-Obi Road, Lafia, Lafia, Nasarawa , Nigeria. eke.chinwokwu@gmail.com

2 12 International Journal of Police Science & Management 19(1) inefficiency and ineffectiveness is aptly demonstrated in the way in which police personnel are managed in carrying out their crime control duties in Nigeria. Members of the NPF have the legal authority and powers to apprehend offenders, to investigate crimes, to investigate and prosecute suspects, to grant bail to suspects pending completion of their investigations or court arraignment and some other duties, as stipulated in Section of the Police Act. However, Alemika and Chukwuma (2004) observed that: Due to a combination of structural factors (political oppression and instability as well as economic exploitation, mass poverty, widespread corruption, etc.) and institutional inadequacies (poor quality of personnel, inadequate training, poor facilities, grossly inadequate remuneration and general conditions of service, and hostile police public relations), the country s police force is ill-equipped to perform its function well and in compliance with the rule of law. Instead, what is evident is that the Nigerian police are highly and visibly subservient to the rich and powerful, even in the rendering of services (cited in Ebeniro, 2011: 32). According to Obasanjo (2005:17), every society needs a strong and effective police force to maintain law and order, to promote peace and harmony and to secure lives and property. As a result, Obasanjo (2005: 16) asserts that his administration will be committed to ensuring the safety and welfare of the people as one of the fundamental principles of state policy, through a disciplined, well trained, properly equipped, responsible and people friendly police. This was never achieved because the police continued to be involved in various acts of brutality, corruption, perversion of justice, the use of unorthodox investigation techniques, connivance with criminal elements and human rights abuses. The result was that the crime rate increased with greater intensity, pattern, dimension and dynamics that overwhelmed the police, thereby questioning the ability of the police to effectively control crime and manage their personnel for effective crime prevention in Nigeria. The police have been criticized for their unfriendly attitudes and abuse of human rights (Karimu, 2014; Nwidag and Okwendi, 2015; Odinkalu, 2005; Ugwuoke, 2010). This may negatively affect police performance and effectiveness in terms of crime control and prevention, because the police cannot do their job without information or clues from the public regarding criminal operations. This was the assertion of Olujinmi (2005: 19), who argued that the tasks of crime prevention and detection as well as prosecution of offenders cannot be successfully performed without the cooperation of the public. Olujinmi (2005: 19) argues further that there is no doubt that the effectiveness of the police is directly proportional to the cooperation and support they enjoy from the community. Community policing cannot thrive if the public are completely excluded, intimidated, harassed and brutalized by the NPF. Managing police personnel for effective crime control is possible if the police understands the public it polices. This mutual understanding between the police and the public will go a long way to ensuring that police officers operate in an atmosphere that is free from fear and intimidation. The friendly attitude of the police towards the public ensures mutual cooperation that enable a free flow of information between the public and the police. It is worthy of mention that, as of October 2008, police strength in Nigeria was 371,800 police officers for 160 million Nigerians, compared with the United Nations stated average 1 police officer for 400 civilians (1 Police officer to 400 civilian is the average (standard) recommended by the UN for proper and effective policing of citizens.) (Okiro, 2008). In February 2011 the then Inspector General of Police, Mr Hafiz Ringim put the strength of the NPF at 337,000, saying that 107,700, of this number were ghost workers (non living individuals who are presented as if they are living and actually working and collecting wages or individuals who are living but not working in an organization but someone else is collecting salaries on their behalf) (Daily Sun, 2011, February 8). This means that the force had a working strength of only 229,300 police officers. When juxtaposed with 314,362 officers given as the police working strength in 2007, there was a shortage of 85,062 police officers in It is absurd that between 2008 and 2011, the working strength of the police decreased by 85,062. What might have caused such shortfall? Either something is wrong with police management or the police are deliberately under-staffed, enabling criminals to operate while the police corruptly enrich themselves by manipulating police manpower or receiving part of any criminal gains. When these conditions are considered, we can only imagine that the type of insecurity experienced in Nigeria and the difficulty faced in policing the states effectively are due to manipulations by the police authority. Extant studies on the management of police personnel for effective crime prevention have been carried out in Western and European countries (Bayley, 1994; Dawit, 1995; Giller, 1991; Mekonen, 2002; Swanson and Territo, 1983; Tesfa, 1976 ). Most of those who have studied police and crime management in Nigeria were more or less interested in identifying several factors that militate against the effectiveness of the NPF in controlling crime such as: lack of professionalism, indiscipline, lack of manpower, lack of technological knowhow, poor salary, lack of quality training, inadequate funding, lack of facilities, corruption and political interference (Igbinovia, 1982; Oyemwinmina and Aibieyi, 2016; Ugwuoke, 2010). Some researchers have

3 Chinwokwu 13 looked at the leadership of the NPF and their commitment to crime control (Nwidag and Okwendi, 2015), whereas others have focused on the police and crime control and prevention (Karimu, 2014; Karimu and Osunyikanmi, 2012; Okeieneme, 2010). However, none of these scholars dealt with the way in which police personnel are utilized for effective crime control and prevention in Nigeria, particularly as canvassed in this study. Although acknowledging that contemporary crime fighting or prevention goes far beyond the physical presence of police personnel and includes the modern application of technological innovations and strategies, we emphasize that Nigeria as a whole lacks the utilization of modern technology in fighting crime. Hence, crime control and prevention in Nigeria are overly dependent on the physical presence of police officers. It is this background that informs our interrogation of police management with regard to effective crime control in Nigeria. Literature review Ajibade s (2011) findings show that the police strategies used to control crime were not effective. This was supported by the findings of Chinwokwu (2012: 53), which revealed that: These strategies were found not to be highly adequate and effective in addressing or reducing the rate of undetected crimes in the society and this was ascribed to the innumerable problems confronting the Nigeria police among which are unwillingness of the public to assist the police, interference from interested groups, insufficient training, inadequate modern investigative facilities, poor welfare package and disobedience to due process and ethical standard. Soneye (2002) established that a large proportion of the NPF can hardly ascertain the areas under the jurisdiction of their stations or define the shortest route from their station to a specific crime area. He concluded that the police stations in Ikeja Local Government Area are far from being distributed according to geographical spread, population characteristics or crime incidence (cited in Fajemirokun et al., 2006: 17). It has been further established that the security forces (including the NPF) are not distributed equally around the country. They are highly concentrated in urban areas to the detriment of rural areas. For example, there were approximately 2,545 police for 1 million inhabitants in Lagos in 2006; 9,460 in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja; 2,189 in Delta state; 1,864 in Bayelsa state; and 1,745 in Rivers state. Aside from this, a survey carried out by the CLEEN Foundation in 2006 revealed that only 11% of Nigerians reported incidents of crime to the police in 2006, as a result of the perceived unfriendly attitude of the police towards the public (Perouse de Montclos, 2011). In his study, Tesfa (1976) found that failure in recruiting the right people to the force, failure in offering better professional education, misplacement and lack of recognition of the use of refresher courses were some of the inadequacies affecting the police in carrying out its functions (cited in Zegeye, 2010: 1). This was supported by Dawit (1995: 66), who found that the police service does not attract applicants of the right quality for several reasons the main ones being poor pay and conditions of work. The situation in Nigeria compounded by the fact that police managers also misuse their personnel on the ground for pecuniary reasons. In their study, Swanson and Territo (1983: 183) concluded that: Most authorities who examine the major issues involved in law enforcement come regularly to the same inescapable conclusion namely, that the ability of the police departments to provide a high quality of service to their citizens and to solve their major operating problems, will be significantly affected by the quantity of their personnel and the way in which they were managed. This was further supported by Giller (1991: 273) who found that the quality of people doing policing and the success of a police organization depends on how well these people are selected, trained, evaluated, promoted and supported. In Nigeria, we have situations in which trained personnel are notpostedtoperformthedutiesforwhichtheyhavebeen trained. The implication is that police officers are posted incorrectly, thereby weakening their operational capacity, which consequently results in increased crime rates and a lack of investigative expertise (Chinwokwu, 2012). Thus, Mekonen (2002: 157) asserts that lack of competence of membersisarampantproblemintheforce.zegeye (2010: iii) found that the personnel management capability of the Federal Police of Ethiopia was characterized by incompetence. This is very similar to the situation in Nigeria. The result is that, in the last two decades, various reforms embarked upon by NPF management with the aim of improving their crime control strategies and effective personnel management have not had the desired impact. Aim of the study The aim of this study is to determine how police authorities manage their personnel with regard to crime control and prevention in Nigeria. The motive is to assess effectiveness in the utilization of police personnel for the advantage or disadvantage of citizens, and the criteria used when placing police officers in a place/state. The study also examines the consequences of effective and ineffective management of personnel on crime control and prevention, and the challenges militating against the efficient utilization of police personnel for effective crime control and prevention.

4 14 International Journal of Police Science & Management 19(1) Research setting and methodology The survey was conducted in three geo-political regions in Nigeria namely, southeast, southwest and north central. The southwest and southeast regions were selected for the study because they have the highest number of armed robbery cases, whereas north central was selected because it had the lowest number of armed robbery cases. Two states were randomly chosen from each of the three regions, thus giving us a total of six states. Furthermore, each of the state capitals was chosen based on its crime records, population and urbanization. The six state capitals include: Owerri (Imo) and Umuahia (Abia) in the southeast, Ikeja (Lagos) and Ibadan (Oyo) in the southwest, and Lafia (Nasarawa) and Lokoja (Kogi) in the north central region. The population of the six selected state capitals is approximately 1,517,361 (National Bureau of Statistics, 2006). This formed our sample frame. The study population comprised all adults aged 18 years old and above. We used the Yamane (1973) formula to select 360 respondents for the study. This was because a larger sample size is better in survey research and accounts for sampling error (Hair et al., 2010). The questionnaire was administered and collected by research assistants. Of the 360 questionnaires administered, 300 were fully completed and returned for analysis. The study also conducted 15 in-depth interviews across the three geo-political regions of southeast, southwest and north central Nigeria. The respondents for the in-depth interview were selected using a purposive sampling method and comprised community leaders, civil activists and police officers who were knowledgeable about issues relating to the police and crime prevention in society. The study also involved an analysis of secondary data from two sources, namely, the National Bureau of Statistics and National Population Commission regarding police structure and postings, crime statistics and the national census figures by states. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse quantitative and secondary data, whereas the in-depth interviews were content analysed. Data presentation and discussion Reasons/criteria used in posting police personnel In this section, we consider the various criteria that police management are expected to utilize in posting of their personnel for crime control and prevention. Table 1 shows that 33.3% of respondents were of the view that the level of industrial development should be the basic criteria for posting police personnel, whereas 24.3% of respondents were of the opinion that population size should be the critical reason for posting police personnel; 18.3%,7.3% and 6.7% of the respondents ascribe to the view that crime rate, land mass and political considerations should be central in Table 1. Criteria police should use when posting police personnel. Posting criteria Frequency (n ¼ 300) Percentage Crime rate Population size Level of industrial development Social cultural consideration Land mass Political consideration Source: Field Survey, posting police personnel for crime control. However, 6.0% of respondents were of the opinion that social cultural considerations should form the basis for posting police personnel. This finding is juxtaposed with statistics collected from the police in respect of personnel, robbery incidence and adjourned cases in each of the federations, as presented in 2007 (Table 2). The aim was to see whether any of the reasons or criteria articulated by the respondents have any bearing on the management and posting of police personnel for crime prevention in Nigeria. Table 2 shows that over 80% of the states in Nigeria have below the United Nations recommendation of 1 police officer to 400 citizens. In the case of Bayelsa state, the ratio is 1 police officer to 2,321 citizens; although with a relative crime rate of 52 armed robberies in 2007 and 203 adjourned cases. This was despite the prevalence of militia and cases of vandalism, kidnapping and terrorism that were rampant in that state during the same period and as currently experienced the state. Table 2 further shows that Kano state, which is rated as the most populous in Nigeria, has approximately 5,853 police for approximately 9.4 million citizens, a ratio of 1 police officer to 1,603 citizens. However, it has a crime rate of 108 armed robbery cases and with the highest number of adjourned cases at 1,970. Despite its population, land mass and crime rate, it has only 233 police stations compared with 342 in Niger state, 371 in Kogi, 406 in Bayelsa, 556 in Plateau and 505 in Lagos. In an interview, one respondent in Lagos state had this to say on the reasons for posting police personnel: I have noticed that there are few police to do the work even in Lagos state. I am sure this lack of police is general throughout Nigeria. Actually, I had thought that population is one of the things police authority must consider before distributing their personnel but this seem not to be so. The incidences of crime rate should also form part of the reasons for posting police to states but I don t really understand the issue (IDI, Male/ Lagos/2015).

5 Chinwokwu 15 Table 2. Distribution of police by state, population, cases adjourned and armed robbery cases. Police structure 2007 State Area command Stations/divisions/posts Total police per state 2007 Population per state 2006 Ratio of citizens to police Cases adjourned per state in 2007 Armed robbery cases 2007 Abia ,348 2,833, Adamawa ,713 3,166, , Akwa Ibom ,380 3,920, Anambra ,428 4,182, Bauchi ,726 4,676, Bayelsa ,703,358 2, Benue ,698 4,219, Borno ,307 4,151, Cross Rivers ,764 2,888, Delta ,996 4,098, Ebonyi ,269 2,173, Edo ,544 3,218, , Ekiti ,288 2,384, Enugu ,939 3,257, Gombe ,609 2,353, Imo ,775 3,934, Jigawa ,834 4,348, Kaduna ,397 6,066, Kano ,853 9,383,688 1,603 1, Katsina ,062 5,792, Kebbi ,636 3,238, Kogi ,251 3,278, Kwara ,512 2,371, Lagos ,934 9,013, , Nasarawa ,195 1,863, Niger ,871 3,950, Ogun ,985 3,728, Ondo ,312 3,441, Osun ,557 3,423, Oyo ,987 5,591, Plateau ,119 3,178, Rivers ,907 5,185, , Sokoto ,654 3,696, Taraba ,054 2,300, Yobe 0 0 4,585 2,321, Zamfara ,193 3,259, FCT ,060 1,405, Na 172 PMF 31,971 FHQ 18,731 ZONE 10,184 Total 314,362 Source: Police H/Q, Abuja (cited in Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, 2009: ). FCT: Federal Capital Territory; FHQ: Force Headquarters; PMF: Police Mobile Force; ZONE: Administrative Divisional Structure. Table 2 also shows that Lagos state, which is the second most populous and industrialized state in Nigeria, has 1 police officer for every 566 citizens. It had high rate of adjourned cases within the study period and 70 cases of armed robbery. It has been rated as the third most dangerous city in the world in which to reside according to 2016 Economist Intelligence Unit Report due to general insecurity and instability associated with Lagos state ( ive-in_despite.html). By contrast, Oyo state had the highest number of armed robbery cases in the southwest and in Nigeria as a whole, and a ratio of 1 police officer to 800 citizens. Oyo state is relatively non-industrial, although it is said to house the largest city (Ibadan) in West Africa. Furthermore, Table 2 shows that Imo state has the highest number of armed robberies in the southeast of Nigeria,

6 16 International Journal of Police Science & Management 19(1) followed by Anambra state. This reflects the lack of a police presence, with a ratio of 1 police officer to 828 citizens in Imo state; in Anambra, the ratio is 1 police officer to 563 citizens. The study found (Table 2) that some states are sparsely populated in terms of police personnel, whereas others are densely populated. This uneven distribution of police personnel may not be unconnected to the high rate of criminality and number of unsolved/pending investigations in some states in Nigeria. Chinwokwu (2012) had argued that the numbers of unsolved and pending cases across the country should be viewed seriously; sometimes the police lack the facilities, skill, training and experience to solve some criminal cases, irrespective of problems with manpower. Is this not paradoxical with effective police management? Thus, we may ask, What are the criteria used in posting of police personnel for the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases that has caused apparent increase in the number of pending and adjourned criminal cases in the state. Table 2 shows the distribution of police stations/divisions and posts across the geo-political regions in Nigeria. Approximately 5,121 (57.3%) police stations/division/ posts and 55 area commands are sited in northern areas of Nigeria, whereas there are approximately 3,749 (41.8%) located in the southern region of the country and Abuja has 80 (0.9%). What might account for this significant disparity in the distribution of stations/divisions/posts and area commands? But it is paradoxical that the southern areas have higher numbers of police than the northern area, which have more police stations. Is this: (a) an operational statement that southern areas are more prone to criminal activity than the north; (b) due to economic and industrial development; (c) because police personnel prefer to work in the southern areas rather than the north for economic reasons; (d) due to political considerations based on the exploitation and suppression of the south for the political and economic advantage of the north, as was the case with Nigeria s colonial masters; (e) based on the personal pecuniary interests of police officers at the top; or (f) as a result of corruption prevalent in the force? This lack of format in the deployment and management of police personnel is overtly demonstrated in the distribution of police officers across the geo-political regions in Nigeria. This is detailed in Figure 1, which reveals that 53,063 (21%) of the officers in the NPF are located in the southwest, whereas the southeast has the least number of officers at 28,759 (11%). It also reveals that more than 125,147 (49%) police officers are in southern areas, with 116,269 (46%) in the whole of the north of Nigeria despite the north s large population and land mass, coupled with the criminal violence that pervades this region. What might account for this gross disparity in the distribution of police personnel? Furthermore, we observed that the FCT, Abuja South West 21% South South 17% South East 11% FCT Abuja 5% North Central 17% North West 16% North East 13% Figure 1. A pie chart showing the distribution of police by geopolitical regions in Nigeria. Source: author s extract from Table 2. accounts for approximately 5% of police officers (12,060) in Nigeria. More importantly, the FCT, Abuja is overpoliced; yet despite its lack of economic development in terms of industry, crime, particularly armed robbery, is very prevalent compared with the economic nerve centres of Nigeria, namely Lagos, Port Harcourt, Onitsha, Aba and Kano. This contradicts our research finding, which tends to lend credence to the belief that the more police officers there are in a place, the lower the level of crime. It means that in addition to the number of police officers in a place, other factors might also play a significant part in determining the amount of crime situation. This is unexpected because a myriad of factors come into play in creating criminogenic situations. This brings us to the reality of our study, which hinges on the effectiveness of police management of their personnel for effective crime control and prevention. However, this does not diminish our findings, which tend to show that the distribution of police in Nigerian states is uneven and without any clear pattern. It is our finding that the case of Abuja is an indication of the police s inability effectively to manage their personnel for effective crime control and prevention. This finding is in consonance with Sherman, Gottfredson, Mackenzie, Eck, Reuter and Bushway s (1997), US Report to Congress on crime prevention, which states that:...the truth appears to lie in between. Whether additional police prevent crime may depend on how well they are focused on specific objectives, tasks, places, times and people. Most of all, it may depend upon putting police where serious crime is concentrated...(citedinvanderspuyand Rontsch, 2008: 80). In the case of Abuja, most of the police officers are attached to politicians, government officials, other police officers and wealthy Nigerians to the disadvantage of the general public; hence the crime rate is very high. It is sad to

7 Chinwokwu 17 note that the distribution of police officers in Nigeria is grossly mismanaged and the impact of this on citizens is better imagined than said. Furthermore, there is a corrupt attitude among some police officers who divert operational officers for commercial reasons, attaching them to private individuals to the detriment of the population as a whole. This was affirmed by a former inspector general of police, MD Abubakar on 13 February 2012, when he said, Police duties have become commercialized....our men are deployed to rich individuals and corporate entities that we lack manpower to provide security for the common man (cited in Owen, 2014: 9). This is, in effect, an acknowledgement that the police provide protection to the rich, holders of political office and highly placed individuals in Nigeria to the detriment of masses in the society. Hence, President Muhammadu Buhari, acknowledging the negative effect on public security while receiving the Police Service Commission in his office on 20 August 2015, instructed the immediate past inspector general of police, Mr Solomon Arase to reduce drastically the number of police attached to dignitaries (Odinaka, 2015). It is also an indictment of police failure in utilizing its personnel for effective crime control and prevention for the good of the general population. This means that police managers use officers for their personal enrichment, rather than for protecting tax payers. One may argue that areas with higher economic opportunities and benefits for the police attract higher police patronage than areas with little or fewer economic activities, in line with the disorganization theory of crime (Burgess and Park, 1927; Shaw and McKay, 1977). If this argument is tenable, one would expect more police stations and personnel to thwart criminal activities in the area than are presented in our data. There is evidence that the police have no clear criteria in the deployment of officers to states. Postings are more likely to be based on situational circumstances at the time. In an In-depth Interview (IDI) session, a respondent stated: We have many police divisions, stations and posts in Kogi State, but when you go to any one of them, especially the police post, you hardly see more than three police. These three police are to provide security to over 3,000 inhabitants of the area. So you see, we have no police to do the work. Yet, when you go to Abuja, you see police like maggots at the force headquarters loitering around doing virtually nothing all day. How can we fight crime without enough police on the ground at the stations? We don t know whether the police are for the big men alone or for the protection of all citizens in Nigeria (IDI, Female/Lokoja/2015). In all the IDI sessions, respondents were unanimous in their observations that people were deprived of effective policing because of the poor management of officers. Furthermore, it was evident that the police management were more interested in their own personal comfort and the security of highly placed Nigerians, rather than the preservation and safety of all citizens. From the foregoing analysis, we may aver that the police, as an instrument of the state, do not effectively represent the interests of the public; rather, it represents the interest of the capitalist ruling class that formed it. Furthermore, the modern Nigeria police force, as a colonial institution, arose as an apparatus of the powerful ruling class and was used not only to exploit, oppress and repress the poor, but also to protect the illgotten wealth and positions of the elite. This is more apparent and real when you consider the array of police officers attached to political appointees and their compatriots in the business arena. The implication is that the police remain the instrument of the dominant class for the consolidation of their powers, coupled with the suppression and oppression of subordinate and marginalized groups in society. This means that the persistence and brutal use of force on the masses by the police, coupled with the sparsely policed living areas of the masses which generates increased criminal activity, are deliberate manifestations that the police are the property of the ruling class and are at their command. Assessing the ways police personnel are managed for crime prevention Based on the above findings, the study went on to examine the ways in which police personnel are managed for crime prevention. Table 3 shows that the majority (45.7%) of respondents were of the opinion that police officers are not properly managed for crime prevention; 30.7% stated that police officers were properly managed and 23.7% of the respondents were not sure whether police officers were managed properly or not. We also wanted to know the degree to which police officers were managed for effective crime control and prevention. Table 3 shows that 30.0% of respondents assessed the management of police officers to be poor, whereas 29.3% rated it as fair; 16.7%, 15.3% and 8.7% of respondents assessed police management of officers as very high, high and low, respectively. This finding is supported by a respondent who lamented: What exactly do you want the police to do? Remember, even when the poor people are in distress and they manage to phone the police, what is the response from the police? We don t have a vehicle or there is no manpower. But those who are privately paying them have security and distress alarms connected to them. At the trigger of those alarms, the police respond immediately to their plight. What a pity? The police are poorly managed by their officers (IDI, Male/Lagos/2015).

8 18 International Journal of Police Science & Management 19(1) Table 3. Percentage distribution of respondents and assessment of police personnel management. Management of police personnel Frequency (n ¼ 300) Percentage Do you think the police are properly managed? For crime prevention Yes No Not sure Assessing the management of police for crime prevention Poor Fair Low High Very high Source: Field Survey, Table 4. There will be less crime where there are adequate police on the ground. Options Frequency (n ¼ 300) Percentage Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree Source: Field Survey, We went on to ascertain the situation regarding criminality in terms of adequate or inadequate police personnel at a particular place. Table 4 reveals that 30.3% of respondents agreed that crime would be less if there were adequate police on the ground, whereas 18.0% disagreed. Also, 28.7% of respondents strongly agreed that adequate police numbers would lessen crime at a particular place, whereas 23.0% strongly disagreed. We also attempted to assess the opinion of respondents based on their sex, using the statement If police are managed very well there will be less crime in society. The result is given in Table 5, which shows that 42.9% of male respondents and 13.7% females strongly agreed that the effective management of police personnel in crime prevention would reduce the level of crime in society; 28.8% of male respondents and 17.6% of females strongly disagreed. Furthermore, Table 5 indicates that19.2% of male respondents and 34.3% of females agreed that if the police were managed very well, there would be less crime in society; 9.1% of male respondents and 34.3% of females believed otherwise. Statistical tests show no significant difference (X 2 ¼ (51.309; df ¼ 3; p < 0.000) at the 0.05 significant level in the assessment of males and females regarding the management of police personnel towards effective crime control. Table 5. Managing police personnel. Sex of respondent If the police are managed very well there will be less crime in society (%) Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree Total Male 57 (28) 18 (9.1) 38 (19.2) 85 (42.9) 198 Female 18 (17.6) 35 (34.3) 35 (34.3) 14 (13.7) 102 Total 75 (25.0) 53 (17.7) 73 (24.3) 99 (33.0) 300 X 2 ¼ ; df ¼ 3; p < Source: Field Survey, Table 5 supports our study findings, as indicated in Table 2, which shows that the FCT, Abuja with the least geographical land mass and population has the highest number of police personnel and perhaps the most policed city in the world with a ratio of 1 police officer to 117 citizens. Our findings also indicate that Abuja accounts forover5% of police officers in Nigeria (Table 2). Yet, the number of armed robberies is very high. These results have various implications: it is possible that police officers are not properly managed for effective crime prevention; it is also possible that majority of officers are attached to government officials and political elites to the detriment of public safety. A respondent in an IDI session hadthistosay: In most of the Western countries I have visited, it is very hard for you to see police guarding private individuals, banks, companies or commercial establishments. These jobs are left to private security companies. The main duty of the police is strictly restricted to the protection of the citizenry. But here in Nigeria, the opposite is the case. This is done painfully at the detriment of public interest. It is most likely that successive IGs of police in Nigeria have deliberately decided to pay lipservice to the security of the general public by ensuring that police scrupulously carries out its statutory and constitutional role. (IDI, Male/Lagos/2015). We argue that the binding of police to an individual is to the detriment of public security, which is an indication of the mode of capitalist economy in which Nigeria operates. It encapsulates the fact that the protection of a few individuals (government officials and non-deserving individuals) is more important to the police than the protection of the general public. Hence, a respondent argued that: We the poor masses have no need of police protection. So long as individuals are able to wash the palm of the police officers, then of course; they will be provided with personal police protection irrespective of his status in society. The security of the poor people is not important (IDI, Male/Aba/2015).

9 Chinwokwu 19 Our study also found that the Police Force Headquarters in Abuja alone has approximately 18,731 police officers attached to it. When you juxtapose this with that of Kano or Lagos, one might wonder: What are these police doing at the force headquarters? What are the duties of these men at the force headquarters? What is the strength and weight of work at the force headquarters? We found that every senior police officer at the force headquarters is attached with two to three orderlies or bodyguards. The most senior officers of the rank of Commissioner of Police and above have more than six officers attached to them. This means that while some individuals are over-policed, the majority of tax payers in Nigeria live in fear of criminal victimization. This was affirmed by Marenin (1985: 8), when he asserted in reference to the NPF that: The police in their routine work tend to protect the powerful...they are assigned to guard the homes of the powerful, government buildings and act as body guards to important officials. One rarely sees high ranking officer without a police officer. This massive waste of human resources may explain why armed robbers and other criminal elements are terrorizing the masses with impunity, while the police watch and do nothing because they have properly secured their superior officers and other socio-economic and political elites. Although we agree that the proliferation of armed gangs and incidences of armed robbery are not only due to police placement, but to a plethora of factors such as unemployment, corruption, materialism, lack of modern and efficient materials, lack of adequate training and an absence of adequate welfare, we argue that police officers are not equitably distributed or managed for effective crime prevention within society. Challenges confronting police management of personnel In this section, we look at the factors militating against the effective utilization of police personnel for crime control and prevention. Table 6 shows that 29.0% of respondents view political interference as one of the major factors militating against effective police management of their personnel for effective crime control and prevention. We found that 26.0%, 15.7% and 10.0% of the respondents are of the view that corruption, ethno-religious considerations and lack of funds are factors militating against the effective management of police personnel for effective crime prevention; 8.7% of respondents said it was nepotism, 6.0% of respondents attribute it to inadequate personnel (inadequate number of police officers), whereas 4.7% of respondents were Table 6. Factors militating against effective management of the police. Variables Frequency (n ¼ 300) Percentage Corruption Political interference Nepotism Ethno-religious considerations Inadequate personnel Lack of logistics Lack of funds Source: Field Survey, of the view that it was a lack of logistics. This is in consonance with the findings of Omotosho and Aderinto (2012), who argued that no efforts by the NPF can thwart crime within society because of the inadequacies of the force, especially in the areas of manpower, technological advancement and other problems militating against their performance. It is important to note that the issue of inadequate manpower in Nigeria is false, the reality is an inability by managers to administer the available manpower effectively and the flagrant misuse of available officers for personal and egotistic aggrandizement. It is most likely that the number of police officers deployed for actual crime prevention is far from the public perception. It is certain that a large percentage of police officers are deployed to duties other than crime control and prevention. Corruption has become the norm in the NPF. The implication is that officers are engaged in short circuiting effective crime control strategies and the management of police personnel. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (1990), while discussing police corruption, argued that the payment of money to senior police officers in return for a favourable posting and promotion was rampant within the police organization. This is why some states with a relatively low crime rate and small population are awash with police personnel who do nothing but be idle and circumvent due process in crime control strategies. The police are not well equipped with patrol vehicles and other logistics; but most importantly, the problem has to do with the manner in which the available vehicles are used for effective crime patrols. In most police divisions, vehicle maintenance is left to patrol officers. This encourages corruption because patrol officers have to engage in illegal roadblocks in order to collect tolls and raise money to repair broken down police vehicles. This results in vehicles not being utilized properly for effective patrol work due to the lack of a maintenance culture. Funding of police is another factor that militates against police work. A situation in which operational vehicles are repaired by officers from their own funds encourages

10 20 International Journal of Police Science & Management 19(1) bribery and corruption. Individuals who come to police stations with complaints are forced to pay for the stationary required to record their statements or hire and pay for the vehicles that will convey investigating police officers to execute an arrest or prosecute criminal cases in court. This is a large source of fraud within the criminal justice system. Thus, under-funding of the police is of great detriment to the effectiveness of the police in crime control and prevention in Nigeria. There is lack of any application of technology in fighting crime in Nigeria. There was an attempt during the administration of Late General Sani Abacha to install CCTV in Abuja. The project failed because of funding and maintenance problems. Since then, the utilization of technology in crime prevention in Nigeria has been left to those individuals and corporate organizations that can afford it. There is no mass utilization of technology anywhere in Nigeria. Conclusion and recommendation We have looked at police postings in line with the population of each state. We have also looked at the distribution of police personnel and police stations, as well as divisions. We found an uneven distribution of police personnel, police stations and posts in relation to population, crime rate and levels of industrial development. However, there seem to be no definite policy guidelines as to the distribution of police personnel. It is certain that the prevalence of crime and the population of an area did not have any important role in the distribution of police personnel. This is a large flaw in the management of police personnel for effective and efficient crime control in Nigeria. More importantly, we cannot ascertain the standard that was used in the posting of police officers. We thus suggest that whatever principle was used, the following should be considered: 1. The nature of the state in terms of the intensity of criminal activity. 2. The development of the state in terms of its urbanity. 3. The migratory nature of the state in terms of its heterogeneous nature. 4. The commercial nature of the state. 5. The population of the state. 6. The importance of the state to the economy of the country. 7. The nature of industrialization of the state. 8. The closeness of the state to land borders and seaports. 9. The expanse of the land area. 10. The political and religious nature of the state in terms of tolerance 11. The class of people that mostly live in the state. 12. The operational manpower of the police. Carrying out patrols, criminal investigation and traffic regulations comprise most of the essential modern operational policing activities of police personnel across the globe, and Nigeria is no exception. It is imperative that police management consider a reduction in the large numbers of police personnel attached to public office holders and private individuals, and those not engaged in essential duties in order to provide adequate security for the public. There is need to provide the police with adequate funds, while efforts must be put into place to ensure the efficient management and use of such funds. There should also be an internal control mechanism to monitor the use of police funds. Finally, the police reform programme should be intensified to ensure that the police align themselves with the community and the people they police. If they are to earn public respect, the police should see citizens as customers who must be satisfied. The police should be aware of citizens fundamental human rights because this will boost the relationship between them and the public, thereby improving crime control and security. In addition, the police must see all citizens as equal and, on the basis of this, ensure that all receive adequate and effective protection. Acknowledgment I wish to thank all my research assistants who ensured that this research was done within targeted time. I also thank all those who have helped to improve the quality of this paper. I am grateful to all. Conflict of interest The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. References Ajibade D (2011) Crime control and prevention in Nigeria: a study of Ogun state police command. African Journal of Law and Criminology 1(1): Alemika EEO and Chukwuma IC (2004) Analysis of Police and Policing in Nigeria: A Desk Study by the Centre for Law Enforcement Education in Nigeria (CLEEN). Lagos: CLEEN Foundation. Bayley DH (1994) Police for the Future. New York: Oxford University Press. Burgess EW and Park R (1927) The Urban Community. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

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