FACTORING THE NIGERIAN POLICE AND SECURITY CHALLENGES IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA

Abstract

The paper examines the challenges that plague the police as an institution in the present democratic era. Despite pervading problems and consequent challenges. Police are organized to defend and preserve the interests of the dominant groups and classes in society. Consequently, the significance of police as either facilitators or inhibitors of pro-poor change initiatives will depend on the character of their society. The paper contends that police are the specialist carriers of the state's bedrock power: the monopoly of the legitimate use of force. How and for what this is used speaks to the very heart of the condition of political order. The danger of abuse, on behalf of particular partisan interests or the police themselves is clear and daunting. This paper concludes that if the crime is to be combated to guarantee the security of the citizens, the government should restructure the force to instill into it more positive values that could ensure more effective service delivery to the masses.