A retired FCT High Court Judge, Justice Nwada Balami, has suggested reforms in the operations of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
Speaking with Blueprint Wednesday while chairing an event in Gwagwalada, Abuja, Balami tasked police officers to deploy modern method of fighting crimes against the usual archaic ones such as pursuing criminals with marked vehicles.
He equally advised against the use of siren while on patrol, noting that the act would continuously give notice to the arm robbers to take to their heels before the arrival of the police.
The retired judge called on the leadership of the police to use 60 percent of its manpower for intelligence gathering rather than mobilising uniformed personnel who could not get information from the public due to fear of intimidation.
Balami also emphasised the need to give priority attention to the concept of community policing just as he appealed to government to employ more manpower as well as provide equipment with a view to making police officers perform efficiently.
He added that there is also the need to upgrade and computerise police formations and generate database for criminals.
There is also the need to fully fund the police from local to the federal to alleviate some of their problems such as transportation and welfare.
“The question to be asked now more than ever before is: Has the police as an institution made progress since its inception or not?”
