By Izunna Okafor, Awka
The Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, CP Echeng Echeng has underscored the importance of police-community partnership in fighting insecurity and other forms of crimes in the state.
CP Echeng stated this on Wednesday during the Police—Stakeholders Partnership Forum (PSPF), held in Awka, the state capital, where he also called for enthronement of mutual trust and confidence between the police and the public for more effective policing.
“Police must actively cultivate the trust of the community and refrain from acts that endangers trust as confidence once broken will be difficult to regain.
“Communities too must endeavour not to abuse this trust. When individuals give false information aimed at achieving selfish objectives, it erodes the mutual trust,” CP Echeng said in his keynote address captioned ‘Community Engagement: A Key to Effective Police Performance’.
He said: “Noth sides must understand that they need each other and that a partnership built on mutual respect must be forged in the interest of the community. It is only in an ambience of partnership that problems confronting communities can be holistically addressed and ultimately solved.
“Selflessness is when Police watch out for the good of the community and the community reciprocate same. Doing otherwise endangers both the Police and the Community.
“It is not enough for the Police to be willing to engage the Community it serves. There is need for the community to be interested in partnering with the Police and where both parties are disposed to forging a partnership that works, the society is the better for it.”
The police helmsman further assured that the Police will continue to make itself accountable in the administration of Criminal Justice in the state and commended the PSPF and RULAAC for their roles in to forging a partnership that enthroned access to justice in the state.
Earlier in his own remarks, the Executive Director Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, (RULAAC), Okechukwu Nwanguma, commended the Nigerian Police for for their doggedness and readiness to partner with the public to fight insecurity. He also called on the federal government to increase its support to the police to enable them be more effective in the discharge of their constitutional duties.
Contributing, the Coordinator of PSPF in Anambra State, Prince Chris Azor said the forum was one of the outcomes of the assessment conducted by RULAAC, in partnership with the NPF and with support from the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), adding that it was established to serve as a mechanism for holding police officers to account for rights violations, and for awareness creation and sensitization against such.