POLICE BEHAVIOUR AND IDENTIFICATION OF CRIMINALS IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF THE SOUTH-SOUTH STATES

Abstract

Research have proven that identification of criminals by the police is found to have a strong link with Police Officers behaviour which include police use of detection, service, arrest and citation; and force. In criminal identification, while most scholars opine that Western Police focus more attention on proactive policing behaviour as such using more of service and detection to identify crime; studies conducted in most developing countries in Africa show police are giving much attention to reactive policing behavior such as using force, arrest and citation from criminal identification. This study therefore x-rays the four (4) known policing behavioural strategies towards criminal identification among police personnel in Nigeria; particularly the South-South Region. This study adopted the Cross-sectional research design and surveyed 217 respondents. Hypotheses formulated were test using the Linear Regression, focusing on correlation coefficient, F-statistics, T-statistics, R2 adjusted and the un-standardized Beta parameters. Findings from thus study reveals that police use of service and detection is vital to criminal identification because it will assist and support them to track crime activities. and recommended that Nigerian Police Force should provoke more of participative policing; allowing victims and community members to involve in intelligent gathering process; creating a visible platform for people to assist them.