THE POLICE: A first class profession to maximally uphold

PREAMBLE

The police in every nation are part of the executive arm of government primarily tagged with the responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of individuals.

Due to the huge and very risky responsibility of the police, their relevance to a country cannot be overemphasized as it is one to be upheld at the highest level.

From the education sector, to the political, social, economic sector through financial organizations like the various types of banks etc and the sports sector, the police are needed to forestall anarchy and criminality of any kind so as to ensure that peace and order are maintained for without peace, none of these aforesaid sectors will thrive.

These said, racking my brain on coming up with an appropriate acronym for the P.O.L.I.C.E. got me cooking this up; People On-the Line In Crime Extinction (P.O.L.I.C.E.).

People On-the Line In Crime Extinction (P.O.L.I.C.E)

People On-the Line In Crime Extinction, is an acronym that simply explains the purpose of the police. In ensuring that lives and properties are protected, the police are expected to be prepared to avert being caught unawares in the outbreak of crime and as thus, they are meant to be ever ready and well equipped to rightly fight crime.

In addition, from the acronym People On-the Line In Crime Extinction, the definition of the word POLICE is well spelt out as they are primarily created to get crime extinct. But really, crime can never be extinct but made very minimal.

It is paramount to point out that no matter how hard the police combat crime realistically, it will never be in extinct. This is due to the difference in human personality, attributes and of course the existence of bad and evil.

But in arriving at an almost zero-crime country, the modus operandi of the police is meant to be rooted in efficiency, for without efficiency, there would be huge lapses in the mode of operations by the police.

I opine that there are three primary ingredients needed to be possessed by a Police individual before he or she is deemed efficient. 

Mathematically, these ingredients are; 

Motivation + Fearlessness + Discipline = Efficiency

NB: The absence of any one of the three will make an inefficient Police individual/force but the possession of all three will make a very efficient police personnel.

1.         Motivation:

 

            Police motivation is a weighty responsibility that goes a long way in determining their performance. It entails getting the policeman/woman spurred to discharge his or her duties efficiently. 

No doubt, in all profession, motivation is one factor that is expedient to ensure that people in the field discharge their duties at their best.

Getting the police motivated entails the following;

a.         Pay Package

b.         Strength of equipment at the disposal of every policeman/woman

c.         Regular training

a.         Pay package: This deals with ensuring that the police have a pay package that is competitive. The job of the police personnel is one of the most dangerous jobs on planet earth. This is rooted in the fact that they are always the first target by criminals when caught unawares.

Also, the police, while On-the Line In Crime Extinction are exposed to great danger which at times cuts their lives short or gets them gravely injured. Due to this, it is pivotal for the Police to have a compensation package that is not just competitive but first to nothing. 

Though no amount of money can bring back a dead individual or can be equated to human life, the death of a police personnel should have the family receiving a compensation package that will make them have a feel that their beloved giving his life to his or her country is worth it and also, the treatment given to any injured police personnel should be first class as such will be an added motivation to getting the injured eager to recuperate and get back to working towards crime extinction.

b.         Strength of equipment: The police should be well equipped with strong weapons that will boost their confidence whenever they are in confrontation with heavily armed criminals. 

In this respect, here is an experience I had during my university days. A robbery was underway in a bank not far from my house and there was this policeman armed (with a gun that was believed to be nothing compared to the firepower of the armed robbers) but rather than confront the armed robbers, he was running away, removing his police uniform and saying; “this robbers should not see me with this gun and uniform”. This surely gives a picture of why it is expedient for the Police to be well equipped.

c.         Regular training and exposure: Due to the fact that criminals are never asleep, thus always on the move to think of how best to outsmart and defeat the police, it is expedient for the police to be well trained and updated with regards to crime control/fighting know-how. Also, regularly getting the police updated with the latest weapons s very necessary.

2.         Fearlessness:

            Fearlessness on the part of the police is rooted in their ability to perform their duties without being afraid, irrespective of the circumstances surrounding the point of duty call. To this end, the police are to effectively exercise confidence and boldness in their ability to confront a criminals or perpetuators of questionable characters.

Such fearlessness ranges from pulling over an individual who breaks a traffic law irrespective of whether he or she is driving an escalade or Jaguar and most importantly his social and political status in the society to how armed the personnel is. 

Added to this, facing criminals is one that they should not and never be afraid of but sadly, in Nigeria for example, there have been instances when a robbery operation is going on and the police are called upon and rather than have a super hero response, they give flimsy excuses like; no petrol to convey them to the troubled/attacked area or they have an inadequate number of weapons to boldly face the perpetuators of the criminal act.  

This is where motivation comes into play as a well equipped police force will be well motivated to fearlessly confront such instances irrespective of the number of criminals and weapons used by these criminals. 

3.         Discipline: 

            This is the third ingredient that makes up the efficient policeman or woman. In this vein, the police are to be well trained to never compromise, thereby rightly controlling themselves to do what is just, right and fair at all times without being fearful of bearing the brunt for doing right as the case is in many corrupt societies.

The possession of all these qualities or ingredients results in the complete and efficient police personnel. A lack of any of these earlier three stated efficient police personnel ingredients make a police that is inefficient and incomplete with an unreliable approach to rendering his or her service to the public.

All these said, it is paramount to point out that getting the police efficient is not just dependent on the police personnel and authorities but the system prevalent in the country. This is with regards to having an ugly face to nonchalance in the police discharging their duties, corruption and inefficiency. Importantly, the rule of law being 100% adhered to by all in a country is also very important. 

These said, it is no questioning that the police in every country are first class professional to be upheld at the highest level by everyone. 

In drawing the curtains to this work, though temporarily, in the subsequent part of this work we will discuss how best to get the police maximally efficient and find out why the saying; “the Police is your friend” is not embraced by many Nigerians. 

This is just the beginning of this work.

DISCLAIMER

It is pivotal to point out that the points, suggestion, phrases and entirety of the write up are stated from the ideas of the writer.

Plagiarism is utterly frowned at. If the words and illustrations pointed out are to be adopted in subsequent works by other individuals, encompassing an extraction or a further build up on this work or in the course of a lecture/seminar delivery, referencing the writer will be highly appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Taiwo, Kehinde Oluwaseyi