It has been established over time that for any community to enjoy peace, all stakeholders must collaborate. Indeed, for there to be effective policing, every member of the society has a role to play. This belief is the basis for the establishment of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), a body of citizens that collaborate to assist the police relate with people in communities and allow them work effectively.
In Oyo State, the collaboration between the PCRC and the police has yielded many positive results as some members have shown commitment to fill perceived vacuums in terms of logistics to help the police. One of such members that has done a lot is Ambassador Amos Olaniyan, the chief executive officer of Crime Alert Security Network and a patron of the Oyo command of the PCRC.
Olaniyan on Tuesday donated six cars to the Oyo State police command to help them in patrol activities. This is not the first time he has done such; he had earlier built an administration building at the Egbeda Area Command and also had over time given palliatives to police officers.
Speaking on his latest contribution, he stated that it is not strange because members of the public have done much in supporting the police to fight crime.
Olaniyan said, “I can say that many people have been doing their best and I have also ensured I join them in this because I believe if we give them support in doing their job, they will be more efficient and they will be able to assist the community.
“We have been helping by repairing their faulty vehicles, giving them palliatives and fueling their cars through the PCRC. Indeed, I can’t quantify the help people have done to assist the police in their fight against crime.
“I am committed to this because I think if we don’t assist them today, they may be unable to help when we have security breaches. I believe that if we assist the police, they will be able to serve the community better. My message to the people is that everyone should cultivate the habit of assisting the police. Nothing is too small; you can help by giving them money for fuel or any form of assistance. If you don’t do it, you don’t know if that is what will hinder them from helping someone that you know or is close to you.”
Also speaking, the Commissioner of Police, Joe Nwachukwu Enwonwu, described the gesture by Olaniyan on behalf of Crime Alert as a welcome development.
He said, “I’m highly impressed and I want to urge other philanthropists and those who have the fear of God to follow in the footsteps of Crime Alert by supporting us with logistics to work. We will appreciate if we get additional vehicles to patrol. You can see Oyo State is very large. Or you can build things like relaxation halls for us; it will be highly appreciated. This is for officers on transfer who have no places to put their heads and relax while not on duty till they get accommodation.
“I always plead with the public to continue to partner with the police in this police-public partnership programme especially by giving us intelligence and credible information that will help us nip crime in the bud. We will live up to our promise by ensuring we drive crime out of this state.
“I want to state that we have restrategised our security measures for Oyo State police command by being more visible through active policing and intelligence-led policing where we try to get information, raid criminal hideouts and black spots and police the whole area.
“It is, therefore, expected of the public to continue to cooperate and collaborate with us by giving us information. I assure them we will continue nipping crime in the bud to make the state conducive for people to do their lawful business activities and further help the economy of the state through ensuring a crime-free environment. I urge the public to always bring issues of threat to security of lives and property to our attention without hesitation.”
The officer in charge of Agodi command, ACP Sonubi Ayodele, also said, “ Effective policing can only be brought about by community policing and it is about partnership with the generality of the citizenry. There are categories of partnership; we have stakeholders, though all of us should be stakeholders, not everybody plays that role. But people like Crime Alert are committed. He (Olaniyan) identified a need and he is filling that gap; that is why we appreciate him. He is an effective stakeholder in community policing.”
On his part, the Oyo State chairman of the PCRC, Rev. Peter Omofoye, said he’s happy that Ambassador Olaniyan has been a positive influence in the state, adding that, “I voluntarily submitted his name to the former Commissioner of Police, Sina Olukolu, to be elevated to the patron of the command from that of a local government and I am happy today because when you plant a tree and it begins to germinate, you are filled with happiness.”
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