Press Conference for the release of National Result of Police Station Visitors’ Week 2012

On behalf of the Altus Global Alliance and its member organization in Nigeria, CLEEN Foundation, the Nigeria Police Force, Friedrich Ebert Foundation and Justice 4 All, warmly welcome you all to this press briefing, which is being organized to publicly announce the Altus Police Station Visitors’ Week (PSVW) 2012 results and the National Award ceremony.

About Altus

   

Altus is an alliance of 6 non-governmental organizations and academic centers in five continents, created in 2004 to promote safety and justice around the world from a multicultural perspective. These organizations are:

1.      Centre for Studies on Public Safety, Santiago, Chile

2.      Centre for studies on Public Security and Citizenship, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

3.      CLEEN Foundation, Lagos, Abuja, and Imo

4.      Institute for Development Communication, Chandigarh, India

5.      INDEM Foundation, Moscow

6.      Vera institute of Justice, New York

One of the focal point of Altus's work is Police Accountability and since 2006 Altus Global Alliance has been carrying out the Altus Police Station Visitors’ Week in different countries across the 5 continents. Together, these organizations offer a greater capacity to work across matters on issues of safety and justice and a larger role for the civil society in advancing justice from a multicultural perspective.

What is PSVW all about?

The Altus annual Police Station Visitors' Week (PSVW) is an international program that is organized to facilitate local community groups visiting police stations and assessing the quality of services delivered by police departments, to identify best practices used by police and to strengthen the accountability of police to the local community.

The program relies on planned annual visits by community groups to their local police stations. They join with people around the world to visit and review their local police stations by using a simple assessment tool kit composed of 20 questions based in 5 indicator areas. The indicator areas are drawn from international laws and protocols on policing and human rights. By participating in the visits participants are overseeing and improving police services. The information they gather from during the visits are uploaded on to an innovative web- based model which simultaneously generates as a database.

For many of the visitors especially those who are female, poor, physical challenged persons or marginalized for other reasons the experience provides their first real access to local law enforcement and a platform for expressing their views about whether the police are serving all members of their community. The visitors use the PSVW Tool Kit to guide their visit, following protocols that are the same for visits around the world.

The PSVW Tool Kit includes a simple scoring system that allows each individual to assess each station in 20 areas, producing scores on five categories of service: 1) Community Orientation, 2) Physical Condition, 3) Equal Treatment of the Public, 4) Transparency and Accountability, and 5) Detention Conditions.

Immediately after each visit, participants answer a series of questions about what they observed. Their answers are later collected and uploaded to the Altus website. Using the ratings supplied by the visitors, the Altus website will calculate an overall score for each station and separate scores into five categories of service. Police stations that receive the highest overall scores will later be recognized with an award at a forum where it will share with colleagues, information about its winning practices. The Inspector General of Police and Commissioners of Police in the participating states will receive a summary of the scores of the participating police stations, this would directly help them enhance, modify or change the strategies of engagement and interaction with groups within the communities the police serve. The program does not seek to “shame and blame” any participating police department, but only provides score information to participating stations and visitors.

PSVW provides a unique platform for police departments to establish better relationships with their host communities by receiving valuable and difficult to obtain feedback from community members on where services lag, and how to improve the quality of services available. In the same aphorism, as part of a global program, visitors are able to place their individual judgments about the quality of police service at their own police stations in national, regional, and global contexts.

PSVW 2012 Edition

PSVW 2012 edition took take place from the 3rd December – 9^th December, 2012. A total of 6 countries participated in African. These are:

1.      Benin

2.      Cameroon

3.      Ghana

4.      Kenya

5.      Liberia

6.      Nigeria

This year we mobilized more women, low income, religious, ethnic minority and other marginalized / vulnerable groups to participate in the visits.

PSVW 2012 in Nigeria

Summary

The sixth edition of the Police Station Visitors’ Week (PSVW) was conducted from 3rd to 9th of December 2012 in Nigeria. 897 visitors participated; 483 (53%) of them were female while 414 (47%) were male. Two Hundred and Sixty Two 262 Police Stations were visited in 14 police state commands namely: Abia, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Federal Capital Territory, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Niger, Rivers and Zamfara states. The visitors were sent in groups or teams; each team made up of an average of three persons. The team leader was responsible for coordinating the visit including writing narrative reports in line with the narrative report guideline by Altus.

Visitors were drawn from diverse groups and organizations including Market Traders Associations, Artisans Associations, Women interest groups and special interest groups such as Persons living with Disabilities, Schools, Local Government Councils, CSOs, CBOs, Ministry of Police Affairs, National Human Rights Commission, Legal Aid Council and everyday ordinary citizens. The leader of each team coordinates the visit to the police station and thereafter uploads the scores with the narrative report of their findings to Altus website specially designed for the purpose. He/she will then send the kits and the narrative report to the Altus representative’s office which in Nigeria is the CLEEN Foundation.

Overall Assessment

Overall assessment of a good police station is as follows:

Ø      A good police station is oriented to the community

Ø      Remarkable police station present adequate physical conditions

Ø      The station personnel have to know its public and treat them equally by providing trained staff and sources of information to attend to different community needs.

Ø      Transparency and Accountability are two major aspects of a good police station

Ø      A good police station respects detainees rights and provides good detention conditions

1.      Victoria Island police station, Lagos (98.67%)

2.      Alakuko police station, Lagos (96.25%)

3.      Badagry police station, Lagos (87%)

4.      Ajah Police Station, Lagos (83%)

5.      Ilupeju Police Station, Lagos (83%)

6.      Kuje Police Station, FCT (82.67%)

7.      Ijaniki Police Station, Lagos (88%)

8.      Alakara Police Station, Lagos (85.67%)

9.      Central Police Station Awka, Abia (83.33%)

10. Olu- Obasanjo Police Station, Rivers (82%)

The Summary of the performance of the top ten in Nigeria in the 5 Indicator Areas: 

Community Orientation	Physical Conditions	Equal Treatment of the Public	Transparency and Accountability	Detention Conditions
Alakuko, Lagos - 100%	Victoria Island , Lagos  - 96.67%	Victoria Island, Lagos  - 96.67%	Alakuko, Lagos - 100%	Victoria Island, Lagos - 100%
Victoria Island, Lagos - 100%	Badagry, Lagos - 93.33%	Alakuko, Lagos - 90%	Victoria Island - 100%	Alakuko, Lagos - 98.75%
Ajah, Lagos - 91.67%	Alakuko, Lagos  - 92.5%	Bode thomas, Lagos - 81.67%	Central Police Station, Awka, Abia - 95%	Central Police Station, Awka, Abia - 98.33%
Ijanikin, Lagos, 91.67%	Ajah , Lagos  - 91.67%	Kuje, FCT - 81.67%	Badagry Police Station, Lagos  - 91.67%	Owutu, Lagos - 98.33%
Alakara, Lagos - 90%	Ilupeju, Lagos  - 90% Ajao Estate, Lagos  -88.33%	Badagry, Lagos - 80%	Kuje, FCT - 91.67%	Badagry, Lagos - 88.33%
Chachanga, Niger -90%	Chachanga, Niger - 87.5%	Central Police Station, Awka, Abia - 80%	Ikeja Police Station, Lagos - 90%	Ilupeju, Lagos - 87.5%
Kuje, FCT - 90%	Apapa, Lagos - 86.67%	Uwani, Enugu - 80%	Nkwere Police Station, Imo - 90%	Agbowa, Lagos - 85%
Ipakodo, Lagos - 88.33%	Akukanaw,  Enugu- 83.33%	Alade, Lagos - 75%	Central Police Station, Court Road, Awka, Anambra  - 86.67%	Ajah, Lagos - 85%
Olu Obasanjo, Rivers - 88.33%	Ijanikin, Lagos - 83.33%	Alakara, Lagos - 75%	Alakara , Lagos - 85%	D Division (Itam), Akwa Ibom - 81.67%
Ogui Divisional Hqtrs, Enugu - 86.67%		Chachanga, Niger - 75%	Ijanikin, Lagos - 85%	Igwuruta, Rivers - 81.67%

Comparative Analysis of the overall assessment of performance of the police stations in Nigeria in 2012 and 2011

S/N	Indicator Area	Score (2012)	Score (2011)
1.	Community Orientation	58.80	59.44
2.	Physical Conditions	49.77	49.39
3.	Equal Treatment of the Public	46.92	46.45
4.	Transparency and Accountability	55.12	55.83
5.	Detention Conditions	49.76	50.13
	Overall National Average	52.07	52.25

GOOD PRACTICES

Adeniji Adele Police Station, Lagos State Police Command

1. Hotspot patrol within the police station’s jurisdiction

2. Police Community interactive forums

3. Pictorial documentation of detainees

Alakuko Police Station, Lagos State Police Command

1. There is a borehole in the police station

2. There is a canteen

3. More female than male police officers in the police station

Ebute Ero Police Station, Lagos State Police Command

1. Good interpersonal skills exhibited by the police officers

2. Readiness of the DPO and his team to help the team

Gusau Police Station, Zamfara State Police Command

1. Ongoing community and police interaction program

2. Open forum for receiving and treating complaints

Isokoko Police Station, Lagos State Police Command

1. Prompt response from majority of the officers on duty

2. Adequate information about crimes in the areas

3. Adequate information about human rights of suspects and related matters

Mpape Police Station, FCT Police Command

1.      Neat Premises with locking ties and flowers

2.      Conducive working environment

3.      Cable TVs

4.      Stable power and water supply

5.      Good interpersonal skills exhibited by the police officers

6.      Well-furnished offices with oil stainless oil paint

7.      Neat and well sanitized cell detention facility

8.      Functional traffic section

9.      Good police and corporate relations

10. Equitable gender staffing

Victoria Island Police Station, Lagos State Police Command

1. Separate open office space for female officers and it is comfortable

2. Separate toilet facilities for female officers

3. Separate cells for female detainees

4. GIS mapping of jurisdiction

Most Engaging Commissioner of Police

Mrs Desire Nsirim – CP Niger State

Most Distinctive Improvement

Mpape Police Station – Abuja –SP Ayobami Turajudeen

We also use the opportunity to appreciate those that have made the PSVW a reality. The funding support for Nigeria is being provided by Justice for All (J4A) and Frederick Ebert Stiftung (FES); the CHASE program of the UK Department for International Development, London for Africa; the police organizations that have open their doors to the visitors – this is an indication of commitment to working closely with their communities. We thank you all for taking out time out of your busy schedules to grace this press briefing, thank you all for coming.

Blessing Abiri

Africa Regional Representative

Altus Global Alliance

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