THE WHAT IS AND WHY OF COMMUNITY POLICING IN NIGERIA

The rate at which crime has increased and the inadequacies in policing style in Nigeria y earn for a shift from the traditional to a people-centred community policing as an alternative to overcoming increased crime in the Nigerian society. It is on this premise, the paper aims at shedding light on what is and why community policing in Nigeria. The ex-post facto research method was adopted in this paper which depended exclusively on secondary sources of data obtained f rom journals, textbooks, and the Internet. The data collected were analysed textually. The study found out that community policing is a partnership strategy that promotes the cooperation and participation of constituents and the police in proactively . combating crime, social disorder, fear of crime and other related matters. It is based on these findings that the paper argues that community policing does not mean that the core functions of the police are subordinated, rather it is concerned with the community collaboration in creating a safe and secure environment for al