Historicizing Police–Public Relations in Nigeria 1861-2015

Focusing on the Nigeria Police Force, this paper argues that from its inception, the colonial Police Forces; the Hausa Guard, Lagos Constabulary, the Royal Niger Constabulary, and the Oil Rivers Protectorate Police which later metamorphous into the Nigeria Police Force, based on the purpose of their establishment, lacked a cordial police-public relationship. While the Police saw the public as not cooperative, the public regarded the Police as exploitative and oppressive machinery of the colonial administrators-a dreaded evil. Here, the paper attempts a historical analysis of the nature of the contemporary Police Public relationship, tracing its origin to the colonial background. Drawing examples from the nature of policing in the Western world with particular reference to Britain, the paper argues that the motive behind the establishment of Police Force and their roles in the colonial territories, Nigeria in this case, differed from policing in the metropolis. While acknowledging the role the Nigeria Police Force has played in the development of the Nigeria nation, the article submits that much is still needed to be done in its relationship with the Nigerian public. For effective security and development of the country, the paper suggests that the Nigeria Police Force, having been independent of colonial influence should also purge its system of the antagonistic Police-Public relation which characterized colonial policing.