Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, CP Joseph Eribo, has stressed the need for robust synergy between the police and the people to rid the state of crimes and criminalities.
Eribo also advised officers and men of the command to prioritise self-discipline as watchwords and avoid being caught in the web of human rights abuses.
The CP stated this at the Ado Ekiti Police Area Command where he rounded off his familiarisation tour of Divisional Headquarters and Area Commands in the state.
The Ekiti police boss called for information gathering and sharing between the police and people, describing such collaboration as a form of community policing which could help to surpass the United Nations’ recommended police personnel to citizens ratio.
Eribo also held interactive sessions with the Igbo and Hausa communities as well as the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and Okada riders’ unions.
He said, “I am calling for your collaboration, support and synergy for us to make our city, our state a very calm, peaceful, secured and safer environment, for us all to go about our duties without threat, fear and hindrance from any angle.
“And if we do this, it is simply part of what we call community policing because we have come to realise that we cannot do it all alone. The population is growing geometrically and in terms of the United Nations recommended police-to-population ratio, we are not there yet; notwithstanding, with all of us working together, we can surpass that ratio.”
Eribo noted that police officers cannot be everywhere at the same time, hence, the police rely on stakeholders in every community to get vital information that could be used to curb criminal activities in the communities.
“The criminals are not spirits; they live among us and they are known to most of us; but most times, we shy away from doing the needful as long as we are not affected. For some people, it is probably for the fear that it may boomerang,” he noted.
The CP cautioned that everyone becomes a victim of crime when it is allowed to fester and spread, noting that whatever affects one’s neighbour indirectly affects them.
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