The Nigerian Police want to address the escalating security paralysis in the nation by asking the National Assembly to enact a law that would force private citizens, government agencies and companies to install CCTV cameras and security sensors on their properties.
The Police made the call during a retreat in Akwa Ibom which was attended by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, and about 148 other senior police officers, notes Premium Times.
According to a statement on Friday from the deputy spokesperson of the Force, Muyiwa Adejobi, the retreat “emphasised on intelligence as the brainbox of policing and proposed a legislation that will place an obligation on government agencies, corporate bodies, estate developers and private individuals to install CCTV cameras and security sensors on their facilities as a standard practice amongst others”.
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People, time to buy bigger generators and more fuel? I hope people know that CCTV cameras do not use air and water. Imagine every home in Nigeria running generators 24/7 so that Police will have “data” to arrest criminals! #NextDistraction please.
Why? If you have no comprehensive citizen database, CCTV will not do any magic. Yes, even if you see them, what would you do? Those attacking banks do not wear hoodies because they believe that even if you see them, your options are limited with no great intelligence and ground work to come after them.
As part of the measures to check the rising insecurity across the nation, the Nigerian police are calling for a legislation that would compel private citizens, including government agencies and corporate organisations, to install CCTV cameras and security sensors on their facilities.
The police made the call on Wednesday at the end of their two-day retreat and conference in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The retreat was attended by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, and about 148 other senior police officers from the rank of commissioner of police and above from all over the country.
According to a statement on Friday from the deputy spokesperson of the Force, Muyiwa Adejobi, the retreat “emphasised on intelligence as the brainbox of policing and proposed a legislation that will place an obligation on government agencies, corporate bodies, estate developers and private individuals to install CCTV cameras and security sensors on their facilities as a standard practice amongst others”
Mr Adejobi, a chief superintendent of police, said a communique which captured the proposal, had been sent to relevant authorities, including President Muhammadu Buhari’s office, the national security adviser, the National Assembly, Ministry Of Police Affairs, and the office of the Chief of Defence Staff.
Meanwhile, many terrorists are repenting and surrendering in the nation: “Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has again updated President Muhammadu Buhari on latest security development in the state. After the closed door meeting with the president, on Thursday in Abuja, Mr Zulum told journalists that over 30, 000 Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists have so far surrendered.”
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Comment 1: Security cameras generally serve two purposes.
1) A deterrent. A criminal is less likely to invade a home or facility where there are cameras.
2) An investigative tool. After a crime has occured, a CCTv camera assist investigators understand how a crime was committed and possibly identify suspects.
Unfortunately,, the Nigeria Police does not have facial recognition capability nor a database against which a search could be made to identify criminals whose faces were captured.
If a Nigerian can afford to install cameras, they should. Nothing wrong with it. But the police should have no business enforcing it.
The infrastructure to support it is not just there. And frankly, you can’t force people to provide cameras for their homes and facilities if they choose not to.
Comment 2: A friend of mine once witnessed a robbery in front of the house at 3:30 am and those heading out to work, transporters as well got robbed and shot at. Now, a stone’s throw away is the police station. Guess what?! Nothing happened. They didn’t come. The Hausa boys whom we call aboki, came through instead. They fought them with their fist, sustained gunshots, and bullets but didn’t die. Imagine women, young female children who would have been raped. Imagine men and boys who would have been killed. Imagine the old left injured and mourning. We need people to do their jobs faithfully. After all, police of old never had technology or DNA and they solved cases. It is well.
My Response to #2: Indeed – they cannot even manage the crimes inside police stations effectively. Sending them millions of images from CCTVs will add no value. Which database are there going to use to solve the crimes? This is not a good idea!
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If societal challenges had remained primitive, like digging ground or climbing tree, we would have remained Ok in this part of the world, because nothing would require huge intellectual rigour or deep thinking to address, something we were never trained on.
How will installing CCTV cameras everywhere help police catch criminals? It would have been a viable argument if many of the criminals are not known, think about all the deviants and miscreants you see on the road and in your neighborhood, does police need CCTV to arrest them too? It’s like the EFCC talking about a device that will help them catch fraudsters, as if they don’t live in all the big estates across the land, the people the police wants to catch via CCTV aren’t hiding, you cannot be wearing glasses on what you can see clearly with your natural eyes.
Previously, you need high fences and barbed wire to keep thieves away, but do today’s robbers and kidnappers care about such things? In some places, robbers send letters ahead of their visits, and still show up as promised, those who want to rob or kidnap you will simply knock on the gate and ask you to open, yet the The Police is asking for CCTV…
Intelligence gathering isn’t difficult here, just put your ear down.