Members of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) have been urged to take seriously their responsibility of bridging the gap between communities and the Nigeria Police Force to promote better understanding and effective security.
A security expert, Mr. Austin Yong, gave the advice while addressing Divisional Chairmen of the PCRC in Port Harcourt. He emphasised that, as the closest arm of the PCRC to the grassroots, the various divisional committees should lead efforts to ensure that communities understand police activities, just as the police understand the communities they serve.
While acknowledging that the PCRC has performed well in providing information and logistics to the police, Mr. Yong said the new PCRC constitution places strong emphasis on reducing the gap between the police and the community. He added that the police will now play a role in identifying and certifying new PCRC members.
“The PCRC has over concentrated on the police, proper thing is to bridge that gap between the PCRC and the police and you cannot bridge the gap between two people If you are not aligned to the two people. So the PCRC needs to do some work in communities a lot of communities are living in ignorance. So the importance of the police and what police can do to secure them”.
“So if PCRC member is there, for instance, and they cannot make the community person get to know what the police can do for them that PCRC member has failed that is the biggest failure on the PCRC” he said.
Also see: Civilian Security Aide, Youth President Killed in Rivers Community
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Rivers State Command of PCRC, Mr. Voke Amure, said the command is taking concrete steps to ensure that the trust that once existed between the community and the police is restored.
“We have been visiting from time to time, community leaders the youths and women to try and ensure that they can bring their complains directly to the commissioner of police through the PCRC.”
“So far the community had enjoy the role that PCRC has played and we don’t want it to just be only us we are building a system where anyone that has an issue can work into a police station and be treated properly”. He said.
Mr. Amure said the PCRC Divisional Chairmen have been adequately equipped with the necessary concepts for building stronger relationships with their respective communities.
