The Nigeria Police Force and Management of Occupational Hazards in Rivers State

There is an increasing level of violence in Nigeria today. Members of the Police Force are regularly drafted to deal with the situations. This makes the police have various risks. These hazards include homicide, assaults, and injuries. Other factors are exposure to stress due to long working hours, inadequate personal protective equipment, and violent confrontations. These occupational hazards threaten officers’ safety and efficiency. Areas raising problems have been: Patrol (chase of criminals, encountering riots, armed robbers, and kidnappers); Investigation (search and pursuit of high-profile criminals); Traffic Control (inhaling of dust, gas emissions, long standing posture). Station Guard (long sitting position, attacks at police stations, and assaults by cell escapees) and, Stop and Search (stop for checks on vehicles/criminals). The study therefore examines the risk associated with police duties in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study adopted the multi stage cluster and simple random sampling techniques. The instrument was a structured questionnaire administered to 370 officers. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results indicated more police officers work in the department of operations, investigations and traffic, with challenging working conditions. Minimum work load is 12 hours of duty. They highly demand personal protective equipment (PPE), especially body armor. The Inspectorate rank is more prone to fatalities. It is recommended that Police Management Team provide and enforce risk management policies to ensure the well-being of officers; adopt ‘critical incident protocol’ for law enforcement as a way of reducing incidences of fatalities; the government should improve upon safety policy reforms, provide modern protective gear as well as working conditions of police officers.