Abstract
Security of life and property in Nigeria is seriously deteriorating. The members of the public live in fear and have become increasingly uncertain about their safety and security. In recent years, there has been an upsurge in armed robbery, kidnapping, armed militancy, among others, with the police always ‘talking tough’ but doing little or nothing. This paper focused on the perception of the public on police response to crime cases in Anambra state of Nigeria. Cross sectional survey research design was adopted for the study. Simple random sampling technique was used to select four communities in the state. Purposive sampling technique was also used to select 624 respondents aged 18 years and above while structured questionnaire became the instrument for data collection. Descriptive statistics was employed for data analysis. Findings from the study show that educational attainment of respondents affected their rating of police effort in crime control (p=0.018); place of residence (urban/rural) affected people’s perception on the promptness of the police to emergency cases (p=0.000). Further, sex of respondents was found not to be statistically significant with their perception on police-public partnership in crime control in Anambra state. The study therefore recommends formulation and implementation of policies to restructure and reposition the police force to respond adequately to crime. Keywords: Perception, Public, Crime, Crime control/prevention, Police DOI : 10.7176/DCS/9-3-10 Publication date :March 31 st 2019
Highlights
Over three decades ago, Odekunle (1977) as cited by Igbo (2007) had claimed that Nigeria had a ‘crime-problem’ in which crime had become systematic, prevalent and highly organized, with all sectors and sections of the citizens getting involved, while the police efforts had yielded little or no results (p.148). Alemika (2012) concurred with this viewpoint when he said that Nigeria is suffering from a growing crime-problem, which is progressively threatening its sovereignty, security and development.Today, the crime problem has even worsened and become more rampant, with incessant kidnapping, armed robbery and political killings in the south east and other parts of Nigeria, Anambra State
Recall that on the night of 14-15 April, 2014, 276 female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria and responsibility for the dastardly act claimed by the same Boko Haram terrorist group (Kola & Ajakaye, 2018)
This study focuses on the feelings and views of the public in Anambra State of Nigeria concerning the police performance in their statutory function of maintenance www.iiste.org of law and order, crime control
Summary
Odekunle (1977) as cited by Igbo (2007) had claimed that Nigeria had a ‘crime-problem’ in which crime had become systematic, prevalent and highly organized, with all sectors and sections of the citizens getting involved, while the police efforts had yielded little or no results (p.148). Alemika (2012) concurred with this viewpoint when he said that Nigeria is suffering from a growing crime-problem, which is progressively threatening its sovereignty, security and development.Today, the crime problem has even worsened and become more rampant, with incessant kidnapping, armed robbery and political killings in the south east and other parts of Nigeria, Anambra State. Criminals move in groups of ten, twenty, thirty and even fifty, painting a picture of fear, and helplessness to the public, even to the law enforcement agents. Very often, they achieve their purpose with little or no counter measures from law enforcement agents. Recall that on the night of 14-15 April, 2014, 276 female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria and responsibility for the dastardly act claimed by the same Boko Haram terrorist group (Kola & Ajakaye, 2018). Oputa (1975) as cited by Igbo (2007) defined crime control as:
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