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ABSTRACT
Policing in any country is one of the determinants of the functionality of such country. Policing in Nigeria dates back to the colonial Era and so does its problems. The police in Nigeria has always struggled to gain the trust and approval people upon which its effectiveness is determined. The police have rather been perceived as a force as the name implies rather than a service which they ought to be. The police owe a duty to citizens to protect their rights and property. The police seem to carry out these duties only in favor of the highest bidder. The police in a bid to exercise their powers to carry out these duties do it in breach of the law. The constitution provides for rights of citizens to which redress can be sought when these rights are infringed upon.
The police and the court are supposed to safe guard these rights and the police have the closest contact with these rights in the exercise of their duties but rather than preserve and protect them they tend to be the ones to infringe upon them. Once a person is arrested by the police he is treated as a criminal without actually being convicted. This is against the provision of section 36(6) of the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. In the course of this, such person could be tortured and forced to write statements and make false confessions all against the provisions of the law. The inferable problem with the police is that even where these acts are reported to higher authorities little or no action is being taken in that regards so they continue to perpetrate the same grievous acts.
In the aspects of proper and effective policing, it has been discovered that one of the key factors of effective policing is community policing and this has not really been a success in Nigeria because the citizens are too scared and lack so much trust in the Police that they would rather not have an encounter with them unless appropriately necessary. This paper therefore examines these problems and others plaguing policing in Nigeria and seeks to proffer solutions to them.
