Public Trust, Currency Of Effective Policing – Anambra Attorney General, Nweke
By Joseph Egbeocha | Ichie Times
AWKA: The Anambra State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Tobechukwu Nweke, SAN, has described public trust as the currency of effective policing, saying that the confidence citizens have in the police determines the institution’s ability to discharge its responsibilities effectively.
Addressing participants at a five-day capacity-building workshop for Area Commanders, Tactical Commanders and Divisional Police Officers in the state, the Attorney General, who spoke on the theme, “Public Trust Bank and Community-Centered Policing,” emphasized the need for the police to rebuild public confidence and strengthen community relationships as essential elements of effective policing.
He introduced what he described as the “Analytic Bank Model” of policing, which compares the relationship between the police and citizens to that between a bank and its customers.
“The police is a bank. Citizens make deposits of trust because they believe in that bank. Once that trust is lost, people begin to withdraw their deposits. And when that happens, the bank collapses,” Nweke explained.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria noted that his office as Attorney General would be unable to function effectively without the police, adding that the judiciary, security institutions and the nation’s economic system also depend on effective policing at the community level.
He urged police leaders in Anambra to introspect and embrace innovative and people-oriented approaches capable of meeting the demands of a rapidly changing society, noting that the police remains the world’s most important institution and that no arm of government can function effectively without the support of the police.
The workshop organized by the Anambra State Police Command in collaboration with the African Peace Institute and Social Studies was aimed at strengthening policing strategies and improving relationships between the police and the public.
