By Jibunma Anthony-Spinks

April 24, 2024

There is an old joke about heaven and hell, which underscores the level of efficiency of a police force in each country across Europe and by extension, across the globe. In the joke, Heaven is defined as a place where the mechanics are German, the administrators are Swiss, the chefs are French, the lovers are Italian, and the police are British. In contrast, the joke defined Hell as a place where the mechanics are French, the administrators are Italian, the chefs are British, and the police are Germans. Taking the joke further to an expensive level, where and how could Nigerias police force be categorised? Are they lovers in heaven or carpenters in hell? That is a matter for another day.

Conclusions and opinions vary and are subjective when assessing the level of efficiency of a countrys police force. This is because the topic itself is subjective. It has been said that it may not be appropriate to make generalizations about the performance of an entire police force of a country because each police force has its own unique strengths and constraints, cultures, laws, and different working conditions, all of which affect performance and level of efficiency. The police in the United States is able to apprehend any criminal within 48 hours after the crime was committed, with much of the credit going to the FBI. In some countries, if you are caught stealing, the culture requires that you proceed to kill yourself expeditiously without waiting for any police officer to arrest you, while in some other countries your hands with which you committed the crime would be chopped off.

Globally, countries like Finland, Sweden, Japan, Germany, Scotland, France, United States, Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands are considered to have high-quality police services and low levels of corruption.

Across Europe, it is believed that Finland has one of the most efficient police and law enforcement. From current statistics, the police in Finland solve 80 per cent of all reported crimes, 90 per cent of serious violent crimes, and 98 per cent of murder cases. Perhaps for this reason, the country is regarded as the happiest country in the world. Their efficiency is a function of public trust and confidence that citizens have in them. The confidence is earned by honest and direct relationship with the people. The officer knows everybody in the community and everybody in the community knows the officer. This is reflected in the motto of the Finnish police force, Kaikkien turvaaja kaikkina aikoina, which translates to Everyones protector at all times.

It is not that there are no criminals and guns in Finland. One key emphasis is anchored on training, research and development. Almost all police officers must graduate from the Police University College with a four-year bachelors degree. In 2016 alone, the college received 4,318 applications for the bachelors degree programme of 300 slots with a rigorous training curriculum. Out of the admitted 300, only 130 graduated from the last class on record. Simply put, they go for the best of the best. In most third world and developing countries, citizens are recruited into the police not because they desire to become police officers but because they have no other choice in the crowded unemployment market. Even those who sincerely wish to pursue a career in law enforcement may not be able to do so if they do not have people with the right connection to help them.

Experience has shown that countries where the police interact one-on-one with the citizens tend to police better than in countries where the police is centralized. Though Finland is relatively small with a population of about 5.5 million, within the national police structure of the country, there are local police departments who deal principally with matters affecting local public security. Some regional governments also have their own police departments. For instance, Aland province of Finland which consists of 6,757 islands has its own police department which falls under the responsibility of the Government of Aland. At the national level, there is the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) established in 1954, which is responsible for major high-profile crimes or white-collar crimes which are of deeply-rooted and very serious nature. They also assist the regional formations with certain types of specialized security services such as fingerprint identification and high-profile cybercrime and cases of espionage.

Coming back to Nigeria, the argument against state and community police is that state governors and political parties in power in the state will hijack the police force and use it to intimidate their political opponents. This argument is based on assumption, and not on facts. In countries where police formations are localized, there are hardly any cases where the formations have been hijacked by the police or the political parties in power. On the contrary, the police are respected by all political parties and all the citizens because they see and interact with one another almost on a daily basis and each knows what the other is doing. In any case, if a sitting governor hijacks the state police during his tenure, will he still hijack it after his tenure has ended?

What is fundamental is public trust and people tend to naturally trust who they know and see one-on-one. There is no way a Deltan, for instance, can trust a police officer of Yobe or Sokoto origin serving in Delta State more than an officer of Delta State origin whose family and relations he probably knows. The same is applicable to our compatriots up north. At any rate, at what point will Nigeria be considered mature? Must the country grow grey hair first for it to be deemed mature enough? Nigeria is long overdue for state and community policing. Even in pre-colonial era, the policing style was localized in the form of informal social control within each family, religion, age grades and use of taboos to maintain social order. There is also the argument that states may not have the necessary funds to cater for the needs and remuneration of a state police, bearing in mind that some states cannot even pay workers salary at present. This argument is convincing but not realistic. Decentralization implies that much of the work done at the centre would be devolved to the states together with the funding for that work. In other words, the funding will also be decentralized.

With the spate of insecurity in the country today, there is no need to prevaricate on the matter any further. The time for state policing is now.

*Anthony-Spinks writes from Asaba, Delta State.

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The Nigerian Observer is a daily newspaper published in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, since 1968 by the Bendel Newspapers Company Limited (BNCL) and is owned by the Edo State Government

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