DUMP YAHOO! DUMP HOTMAIL! Get Nigeria's own NAIJANET.COM FreeMAIL! It's Fast, Private, No Junk Mails. Brought to you by Odili.NET and Nigeriaworld  SIGN UP   NEWSTALK   GENERAL MESSAGES   DIASPORA ISSUES   REUNIONCENTRAL   SCIENTIFIC NIGERIAN   BUSINESSLINK   FUNNIES   SPORTSTALK NIGERIA   ANNOUNCEMENTS   CHATROOM

Proponents and advocates of a state police have done very little to allay the fears of those who oppose a state police on the grounds that it will breed an illegal regional army. Notable amongst the advocates are the Alliance for Democracy controlled states and also the group of eminent Nigerians led by Chief F.R.A. Williams known as the PATRIOTS. Opponents of the state police concept on the other hand have not considered other possibilities that could make decentralization of the Police workable. Afterall, the intention of any decentralization is to enhance productivity and efficiency. In this discourse, I have examined the proposals of the PATRIOTS, and I will highlight briefly why it will encourage an illegal regional army. Advanced democracies like the United States have a decentralized and fragmented Police and an examination of the US model clearly shows such model is most desirable for our young democracy.

The Patriots Model of State Police.

First, the Patriots have recommended a political restructuring of Nigeria introducing a regional structure based on the six-geo political zones. Under these zones, the group recommends that there should be states and then the local government structure.

Second, the PATRIOTS recommends that the IGP reports to the President on the general security of the country, while for each region there should be an AIGP who is incharge of the police in the region and who is responsible to the Governor General of the Region.For each state, the group proposed that state commissioners should be responsible to the administrators for security in the state.

This model presupposes that training and motivation will be centralized while the Governors will basically control the operational use of the force in their regions through the AIGP.

COMMENTS:

This model places at the disposal of the governor-general of each region, a very large armed force, which could be misused in the region through the AIGP and thus constitute a regional army. Such a force could be manipulated and misused to intimidate political opponents, and interfere with the electoral process. It is clear the group has a rudimentary knowledge of police operations, as even the position of the IGP is rendered redundant in this proposed structure.

US Model of Public Safety and Law Enforcement.

Characteristic features of Public Safety and law enforcement system in the United States are DECENTRALIZATION AND FRAGMENTATION. Not only is the police decentralized, the police is fragmented into smaller independent units that focus on specific areas of territorial jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction. In this set up, needs and goals are clearly defined, and human, material and financial resources put to optimum use.

The larger Public Safety system comprises the Police (various units and departments), the Emergency Medical Service, and the Fire Service.Under decentralization, all levels of Government namely FEDERAL, STATE, TWO -TIER LOCAL GOVERNMENT (County and City) share the public safety responsibilities. Under each level of Government, the police are further fragmented with specific limits of jurisdiction. The beauty of the American model is that multiple police jurisdictions can also work in harmony and in fact this fragmented system works best with a federal structure of government. There is no IGP concept and Chiefs or Directors head the small units.

Briefly, I have given a bird's eye view of the US Model:

Federal Government.

Under the Attorney General of the United States

FBI,Drug Law Enforcement Admin (DEA),Secret Service, Immigration &NS,US Marshals and etc.

Treasury Secretary

Customs, Internal Revenue Service, Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms (ATF)

There are many other agencies which I have not included here, but which may not suit our purpose.

State

State Bureau of Investigations (SBI), State Highway Patrol or State Police, State Capitol Police and the Division of Motors Vehicles (Enforcement Division)

The SBI is usually under the State Attorney General.

County

Sheriff Department or County Police

Emergency Medical Service.

Bureau of Identification

City/ town

Police department

Fire Department

Universities and Colleges

Police department

Fire department

Emergency Medical Service

Private security agencies

COMMENTS:

In this model, the state police do not deal with municipal policing. The functions of state police are limited to traffic duties and highway safety basically on state and federal highways within the state of jurisdiction. The size of this department is also minimal and not a large force as the structure recommended by the PATRIOTS entails.

Each city department has a jurisdiction limited by its territory.

Flight from prosecution: Where a suspect tries to flee from prosecution as for example from city to city but within the state, the county or state agency can arrest the fleeing suspect. Where the flight is across state boundaries, the FBI is involved and flight from prosecution is an additional offense to the original charged.

There is also the issue of extradition treaties between states, but this is not for our Nigeria purpose.

So for example in the case of the recent arson at the Lagos airport, the following units would attend to the situation, namely the FBI, City Police, EMS and Fire Service. The FBI will be dealing with criminal aspects that affect federal law while the local police will be dealing with the aspects that deal with local law.

POLITICAL RESTRUCTURING

My view on this is a little bit different from the suggestions made by the Patriots in the sense that the 36-state structure should be replaced with a six-state structure fashioned after the geo political zones. Under the States should be a two-tier LG structure made up of PROVINCES and CITIES/TOWNS.Experience has shown that under the present LG system, only the town where the LG HQ is sited is focused on while the rest of the towns that make up the LG are neglected. The reintroduction of Provincial councils and City and Town councils will help carry government to the grassroots.

The states should have their own constitutions and states should have the option to choose a unicameral or BI-cameral legislature. Each of the six states should be zoned into 10 senatorial areas to cut down the senate seats to 60 seats.

For the hierarchy of courts, it is my opinion that each state system should run up to the level of a state supreme court These changes are designed to fully actualize the federal structure of Nigeria and also have economically viable political units.

NEW POLICE MODEL FOR NIGERIA

Borrowing from the US experience, we could adopt fragmentation as a means of eliminating the threat of an illegal regional army. In restructuring the Police, we would have a user-friendly police, specialized in different areas and responding effectively to the needs of civil society. We would have a Police made up of men and women who have the proper training and orientation, job satisfaction and have the public appreciate them for the risks they take to SERVE AND PROTECT.

There should be of course some federal oversight and it is strongly recommended that we do away with the colonial concept of an IGP controlling a unified national force. The Ministry of Police Affairs should give way to a NATIONAL COMMISION ON ACCREDITATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.

The proposed model has been discussed in substantial detail at the following cities:

Restructuring the Nigeria Police Parts 1,2,3

http://www.nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/obi/restructure_police.html

Federal and State Police: matters of jurisdiction, checks and balances.

http://www.nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/obi/police2.html

Emmanuel Uzo Obi
Raleigh, NC, USA