ABSTRACT A major preventative approach adopted by the Nigerian state to forestall election-day violence is the increased deployment of state security agents, particularly, the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) to ensure the safety of voters, electoral materials and officials. But has the inordinate expansion of police presence in balloting spaces clamped down on violence? Part of a PhD study with 15 participants and empirical findings from Rivers State, Nigeria, are presented here to answer the above question. Using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, data were elicited from electoral officials and independent electoral observers. The paper’s contribution is bi-dimensional. First, it adds to the empirical literature on electoral violence in Nigeria by analysing the outcomes of police deployment patterns in balloting spaces. The study finds that the lack of operational capacity and the politicisation of the NPF are mainly responsible for the police’s inability to guarantee the safety of voters and electoral officials. Second, the paper adds to the scholarship on democratically responsive policing. Utilising the NPF as case study, the findings demonstrate the explanatory power of the concept to capture the (un)democratic policing credentials of a given police service. The paper is relevant for understanding the challenges of policing elections in non-Western, illiberal quasi-democratic societies.