Date: 2020-03-06

The Kwara Commissioner of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has constituted a Police-Community Committee in the 16 local government councils in the state to facilitate the recruitment of Special Constables.

Egbetokun disclosed this while addressing traditional rulers at a meeting in Ilorin on Friday.

The commissioner urged traditional rulers to embrace community policing as a way of guaranteeing security in their various domains.

"Security is the responsibility of everyone in the community, we want the royal fathers' active collaboration.

"We should sit down together, identify the problems and proffer solutions to them.

"If criminals see that the police and the communities are working together, they will stop carrying out their nefarious activities," the commissioner said.

Egbetokun also disclosed that the police would soon begin the recruitment of Special Constables into the force.

He noted that traditional rulers would play a major role in the recruitment exercise " because they know the right people to be involved in the security of their communities."

According to him, those to be recruited as Special Constables will be volunteers, responsible, decent and have impeccable character.

" I have instructed all the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in the local government councils to constitute Community Police Committee and you will be meeting from time to time to deliberate on the security of your area," he said. He said the shortage of manpower in the police would be tackled with the recruitment of Special Constables into the force.

The traditional rulers, on their part, suggested that local hunters in communities be trained on modern ways of combating crime while attractive remuneration be paid.

They also enumerated some of the problems in their area which included shortage of manpower and non availability of police stations.

Others include lack of protection for informants who volunteer useful information and inadequate vehicles to convey arrested criminals to police stations. (NAN)