Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Research and Planning, Adeleye Oyebade has disclosed that states will be responsible for the salary and upkeep of community policemen.
Oyebade said the recruitment, training/retraining of the constables for community policing would be on a part-time basis and guided by Section 49 to 50 of the Nigeria Police Act.
We are expecting them to put in 16 working hours in a week and the remuneration is going to be paid by the state government after we must have trained and retrained and got them deployed to the local government where they have been recruited because they know the culture, the language, the orientation and the topography of the area for them to be able to work with the police at that level,” he said.
The police boss said the recruitment would be based on the state of origin and not the state of residence, adding that anyone applying for the new police jobs would have to return to his or her local government of origin.
“They are not going to bear arms. When there are issues that need firearm usage, the police will come in and they will go together. Their role is intelligence gathering,” the DIG said.
“These are community police officers. They are voluntary officers. It is just stipends that will be given to them. I know that when they have been trained, they will be kitted and it will be uniform across the country.
“I don’t see any problem emanating from that because from the recruitment up till the training and deployment, we must have given them all that they need and they will have the powers, the privileges and immunity of police officers and they know that if they do anything contrary, they can be disciplined,”.
He assured that the community policing would not be in conflict with other state security initiatives like Amotekun and Hisbah as they are meant to complement one another.
