Police Chief Calls for ICT –Backed Police

The Nigerian Police service is looking at information and communication technologies (ICTs) as major driving force to improve methods and efficiency particularly to solve crime and to try to prevent it from happening, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has learnt.
Parry Osayande, chairman of the Police Service Commission, said that the country requires police technology complete with the wide range of scientific and technological methods, techniques, and equipment used in policing.
Osayande, who was on a visit to the Ekiti state police command to assess equipment and have a personal interaction with officers of the command, said the police had been having great difficulties in unraveling suspected criminals because they were taking advantage of advanced technology in their activities, while the police still depended on brawn to tackle them.
On the adequacy of the police workforce, he said “The number is adequate and again it is not adequate. But the police force we are trying to build now will not be a man-powered police. What we are trying to do is to put in place police backed by Information and Communication Technology (ICT).”
He said that one policeman in a control room equipped with modern communication gadgets would perform effectively than 20 without such facilities.
Also, he called on the three tiers of government to collaborate in the funding of the Nigerian police force, for effective performance.
However, Osayande noted that one of the recommendations of the M . D Yusufu committee was the contribution of N420 billion by all tiers of government within the next five years for the transformation of the police.