Inspector General Of Police, Alkali Baba has said the only way to achieve effective community policing is through a robust synergy and cooperation between the members of the public and the police.
IGP Usman disclosed this while commissioning an ultra -modern Police Station that consists of male and female cells, change rooms, rest rooms and other offices. It has a well furnished barrack which consists of six flats of two bed rooms each located at Ado-Awaye town, in Iseyin Local Government Area of Oyo state.
Represented by the Deputy Inspector General Of Police in charge of South West, DIG Johnson Babatunde Kokumo, he maintained that police could only discharge their statutory roles only when there was a cooperation between them and members of the public.
“Members of the public need to cooperate and synergize with the police in order to positively impact on the current community policing.
“It takes an active participation of members of the public in providing adequate security for lives and property of where they reside. When the working environment is conducive and place of habitation is equally conducive, it will impact positively on service delivery of officers”, he added.
Baba also said that improved welfare packages for the ranks and files of officers would no doubt impact positively on their service delivery to the public, noting that the inauguration of the Police Station and Barrack was one of his welfare packages to see that police officers were able to work and reside in a conducive atmosphere.
“When there is improved service delivery in the discharge of our statutory duties and responsibilities, definitely members of the public will be our friends.
“What I am trying to do is to rewrite the narration of mutual trust between the police and the public and to truly see members of the public as friends of the police and the police as true friend of the public, I hope with this modern edifice, there will be better service delivery”, he said.
Earlier, Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Adebowale Williams, stressed that the priority and concern of the IGP in the protection of lives and property of the public necessitated the construction of the Police Station and Barrack in Ado-Awaye.
He also noted that Ado-Awaye Town was a prehistoric Western settlement famous for its civilisation and resourcefulness which predates the early 18th century.
The CP, however, assured the IGP of the command’s improved commitments toward effective implementation of crime fighting strategies, in accordance with standard best practices and improved service delivery to people of the state.
He said the command had recorded a lot of successes in recoveries of arms and ammunition, vehicles, arrest of high profile kidnap suspects, foiled bank robberies, among others.
