THE IMPERATIVE OF COMMUNITY POLICING IN NIGERIA.

Across the world, the concern of governments to maintain public safety necessitated a reform for reorienting the police organisations to shift from conducting its functions through the incidence driven approach to community participation model. In Nigeria, the reactive model adopted appeared not effective in taming the internal insecurity across the country as crime upheaval is increasing daily. This paper examined the effects of community policing on police statutory functions in Nigeria. Data were collected from relevant textbooks, journals, newspapers and other official records. The data congregated were analysed through descriptive method. Espousing the broken window theory as theoretical framework, community policing is considered as a proactive crime and disorder reducing strategy as against the 'pursue and catch' reactive oriented. The paper found community policing as helpful to curbing internal security threats in Nigeria. It argued that the effectiveness of community policing is overturned by gamut of the police different operational agenda; inconsistency in policy; and resistance from some officers and rank and files. The paper recommended that the police statutory functions of curbing insecurity in Nigeria would remain a daydream without active community policing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]