CIVILIAN DISTRUST AND POLICE INTELLIGENCE GATHERING IN LAGOS METROPOLIS

Abstract

Intelligence-led policing strategies are gradually becoming vital to the modern law enforcement approach. More than ever, this collaborative problem-solving enterprise fore-grounded in improved police intelligence operations and community members’ collaboration is now considered beneficial in many parts of the world. Globally, police departments rely heavily on members of the community to effectively fight against crime and criminals. The realisation in recent times is that the roles of informants are becoming more critical as police and community members' relationships in fighting against crime are becoming more indispensable. However, the extent of distrust between police officers and members of the community has become a significant driver of the unwillingness and reluctance of many people to provide police with information that will aid criminals’ arrest. Findings from the research have shown that many community members feel that the police are corrupt, do not protect informants and often do not effectively execute reported cases. This situation could make them vulnerable to criminal reprisal attacks. Based on the above, this study using exploratory research design investigates the opinion of 200 public members from four selected local governments in the Lagos metropolis to gauge how civilian distrust has impacted police intelligence gathering. The findings showed that most of the respondents (potential informants) indicated their unwillingness to give helpful information about criminals to police based on their distrust of them.