Community Policing and Crime Reduction in Ebonyi State: A Study of Nigeria Police Command, Ebonyi State
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17605/cajssh.v7i3.1334Keywords:
Community Policing, Crime ReductionAbstract
The issue of community policing has been at the forefront of burning national issue in Nigeria especially in recent times. It has been argued that the police cannot succeed in crime management without strong collaboration with members of the public. In view of the above, the study which investigated “Community Policing and Crime Reduction in Ebonyi State: A Study of Nigeria Police Command, Ebonyi State” specifically sought to: examine the extent community policing has contributed in reducing the incidence of kidnapping in Ebonyi State; determine the extent community policing has contributed in reducing the incidence of armed robbery attack in Ebonyi State; and determine the extent community policing has contributed in reducing incidence of rape cases in Ebonyi State. The study was anchored on the Participatory Theory propounded by Bohm (1996). Descriptive survey design was adopted. The population of this study was 1473 which was reduced to a sample size of 315. Data for the study were collected from primary source. Questionnaire instrument was used in data collection. Data were analyzed using frequency distribution tables and simple percentages whereas the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) was used to test the hypotheses formulated for the study. Findings revealed that community policing has significantly contributed in reducing the incidence of kidnapping in Ebonyi State (r = 0.742, p-value, 0.011); community policing has contributed in reducing the incidence of armed robbery attack in Ebonyi State (r = 0.801, p-value, 0.01); and community policing has significantly contributed in reducing incidence of rape cases in Ebonyi State (r = 0.621, p-value, 0.00). The implication of the findings is that community policing has significantly contributed in crime reduction in Ebonyi State. The study therefore recommended that: There is need for increased collaboration between the police and members of the public in order to contain the incidence of kidnapping in Ebonyi State; there is need for increased funding of community policy activities in order to contain the incidence of armed robbery attack in Ebonyi State; and there is need for increased training and retraining of police officers and members of the public in community policing in order to contain the incidence of rape cases in Ebonyi State.
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