INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE (IGP) Mohammed Adamu on wednesday said all hands must be on deck in order to tackle the perennial insecurity that is bedeviling the country.

The IGP said this when he appeared in the senate to field questions from the senators and give situation report on the state of security in the country.

He said the idea of community policing would reduce crime to the lowest innocuous level at the grassroots as it will take policing back to the community.

IGP Adamu had been invited by the Senate to explain the police “concept and implementation modalities of community policing policy” as part of efforts to curb the deteriorating security situation.

He got the Senate backing on legislative interventions for the implementation of the concept after more than five hours of talks with the senators.

Adamu told reporters after the meeting: “If you can remember, last year, we sensitised the country on the need to adapt community policing and the concept is to give policing back to the community. Let the community take the initiative in identifying the problems that are there that can lead to the commission of crime and the we work with the community to solve the crime

“We believe that everybody comes from a community and the community is a community you know who and who is there.

“Taking policing back to the community will help in reducing crime to the barest minimum.

“So, I have explained the concept of community policing to the Senate, which involves partnership with communities and there are various communities.

“You can have traditional institutions as a community. You can have the National Union of Road Transport Workers as a community. You can have the media as a community and various communities that you can have partnership with.

“If you are talking about partnership, we are talking about problem solving. We need to solve problems that evolve in the community.

“What we mean here is that we scan the community to find out what are the indices that can lead to the commission of crime or a crime that has been committed already.

“We analyse the problems and then, we look for solutions and the responses that are available. Then, we deploy resources to deal with the problems and then, subsequently, we re-evaluate all our responses to see how we can adjust to solve the problem.

“And in doing this, we need to capacitate our officers to key into the process. This is essentially what I explained to the Senate.”

The police boss urged governors and chairmen of local government areas to take responsibility in tackling insecurity in their domains instead of leaving everything to security agencies.

According to him, tackling insecurity should not be left in the hands of the police alone. “It is the responsibility of all,” he said.

The IG implored the other tiers of government, especially the governors and council helmsmen, to be up and doing and should always be proactive and responsive in addressing issues that could potentially lead to insecurity within their enclave.

Adamu said: “Security issues are fluid or dynamic. At a stage where you have a rise in crimes, we re-strategize and deal with them and everywhere will be stabilised.

“And for a period of time you will see stability in crime situation. But at another stage, you will see the criminals re-strategising and coming out to commit crime.

“What we are saying, especially with the concept of community policing, is that fighting crime should not left to law enforcement agencies alone.

“It should not be left to security personnel alone. Everybody should be involved. What are the things that lead to the commission of crime? Are all issues to be dealt with by security agencies alone? No.

“There are other arms of government that need to deal with issues of security. State governors, local government chairmen should take up their responsibilities.

“People that are committing these crimes, there are reasons that make them to commit these crimes.

“If it is lack of employment, if it is lack of education or those issues that will require intervention by the government, the governor should take responsibility.