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Community Policing and Internal Security in Rivers State, 2010 - 2025

Emmanuel Opuene Davies, PhD, Reason Onya, PhD, Ibezim Aniekan Rita

Abstract

Crime Reduction vis-a-vis internal security has drawn the attention of security experts, crime fighters and policy makers in recent times. Particularly, in crime prone societies like Nigeria. This study examined community policing (CP) and internal security in Rivers State between, 2010 – 2025. The study is operationalized within the Democratic Theoretical Perspective. The cross-sectional research design was adopted as the method for generating data. Data was generated from 400 respondents which are constituted as the sample size of the study. Generated data were analyzed using Inferential Statistics and Multivariate Regression models. Hypothesis was tested using chi-square. The study revealed that there is a positive relationship between community policing and internal security in Rivers State, emphasizing the active participation of community members as key to fighting crime within their localities. The study concludes among others; that a key drawback of community policing in Rivers State is that of perception gap between the traditional police officers and the community members, highlighting the need for improved communication and relationship building between both sides. Accordingly, the study recommends amongst others that; as part of administrative and institutional reforms, that administrative and institutional reform of the police operational framework should be redesigned to reflect a community-friendly support and community- oriented service delivery wherein local vigilantes can be incorporated into its operational strategies.

Keywords

Community PolicingVigilanteSecurityCrime.

References

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