Nigeria Needs Technology-based Policing Law – Arase

Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Mr Solomon Arase, has advocated for a law that will introduce technology-based policing system in the country.

He stated that the current insecurity wave and trend required that a law should be made to enforce installation of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in every estate, markets, high-brow areas, cities, etc.

The former Inspector general of police (IGP) who spoke to LEADERSHIP at the Anambra State police command headquarters, Amawbia, where he inspected recruitment exercise into the Nigeria Police Force said that no country can ever recruit enough police man-power that it needs for adequate security of lives and property in the area.

Reacting to the ongoing police recruitment, the PSC boss expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise nationwide saying that in all the states he visited he observed a deliberate collaboration between the personnel of the various state police commands and PSC in carrying out the exercise in most transparent manner.

He, however, stated that the challenges of providing effective and adequate policing of lives and property no longer depend on the number of man-power, but, required technology policing facilities.

He said, “You see modern policing is not determined by the number of men you have on the boat.

You also have the issue of bringing in technology to assist. It is getting to the time when Nigeria should start thinking about introducing technology in dealing with issues of crime and criminality.

“I give you example. If you are building a housing estate in Awka for example, you will expect that the pre-requirement for building that estate should be that, the estate should have a CCTV camera.

“If you are building a shopping mall, it must have a CCTV camera. So, there must be a legislation to say when you are building a massive structure you have to complement it with Government platforms, that is the way to go. We can never have enough police man-power to police a state; no country or nation has ever done that, but the idea is that you must complement it with technology, that’s the way to go “, Arase advised.

He stated that the just concluded police recruitment exercise was just to complete the shortfall on the last year’s figure, and, said, that recruitment of additional 30,000 police personnel had already been approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and, that the exercise will commence later, explaining, that recruitment will be carried out in batches.

He emphasised introduction of community policing policy that will involve every member of the society including groups like traders’ association, road transport workers union (NURTW), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), giving credible information to security agencies concerning crimes and criminalities.