In line with the community policing vision of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) for Ifo Police Division in Ogun State, Mr Olabisi Kamorudeen, on Tuesday, took time to explain how communities can effectively partner with his agency to checkmate crime from all fronts.
The police officer during the PCRC week lecture held at Alameda Hall in Ifo, Ogun State, appealed to community leaders, community development associations (CDAs) to continue to partner with the police in tackling crime in the state.
Mr Kamorudeen, a Superintendent of Police (SP), also urged stakeholders in various communities to hire vigilantes to guide their transformers, homes, religious centres and other vital and critical infrastructures in their communities.
“Communities leaders should encourage their residents to engage the services of vigilantes and other paramilitary outfits to ensure their safety and properties instead of allowing criminals to steal their valuables,” he stated.
The senior police personnel also advised communities to install solar-powered streetlights at strategic points to monitor the movement of people and vehicles entering and leaving the communities, especially at night.
He also disclosed that strange people and vehicles entering or leaving the communities should be checked and their information documented.
On the crime trends in Ifo and its environs, Mr Kamorudeen said that his division was working round the clock in partnership with market leaders, tricycle operators, commercial bus owners and operators, sister government agencies and the paramilitary outfits to tackle cultism, ritual killings, prostitution, and other forms of criminality in Ifo.