Policing through the community in Nigeria: The missing link in security architecture

Abstract

This study examined policing through the community as a strategy of strengthening the security architecture of Nigeria. The study adopted a variety of theories such as citizen participation and the broken window to interrogate the subject matter. The study x-rayed some empirical studies on the perception of the Nigeria police by the public and also contextualized citizens’ participation in community policing to situate the effectiveness of policing through the community. The study found out that policing through the community will improve intelligence gathering capacity of the security agencies in its fight against criminality and insurgencies in Nigeria. The study recommends that the present structure of the police should be decentralized and also take measures to reinvent itself to change the negative perception of the public towards it.