Newly appointed Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun has vowed to make community policing work as he assumed office at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
Egbetokun made this known on Wednesday when he officially took over the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force from retired IGP Usman Baba.
He issued warning to police officers that he won’t tolerate abuse of office, corruption and misconduct, saying commensurate stiff punishment await erring officers.
He added that he will unveil his strategies and tactics in the coming days and months, to secure the country and protect Nigerians from all forms of security challenges including banditry and gunmen attacks.
IGP Egbetokun said the salaries of constables recruited sometimes ago are already being looked into and the salaries, arrears and allowances will be paid by month end.
READ MORE: IGP, Kayode Egbetokun Officially Takes Over At Force Headquarters
According to him, every law-abiding citizen will be brought on board in the fight against crime under his watch. The new police chief stressed that human intelligence garnered from communities would be used alongside technical gathering of information to curb crimes.
“Apart from technical intelligence, we are also going to rely so much on human intelligence available in our communities. We are going to be proactive in our approach to solving our community problems,” he said.
Acknowledging the challenges in the implementation of the initiative, the new IGP said they would be resolved and community policing is going to work.
IGP Egbetokun said, “On community policing, there is a lot that we are going to do differently in the implementation of the community policing strategies that we are operating presently.
“I discussed that with the retiring IG, my predecessor just before we came here and he told me all the problems we are facing with the implementation of the community policing strategies. We are not going to set it aside, we are going to continue with it but we are going to review a lot of things. We are going to make it work.”
