The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 16, Mr. Johnson Adenola has stressed the need to make the Police Community Relations Committee in the area more functional by attracting membership from diverse backgrounds.
The AIG who made the call in Yenagoa at the Twenty-twenty-five Merit Award and Security Lecture at the Police Officers Mess, Bayelsa Command said this would ensure effective policing in the zone.
The theme for the event was ‘Policing the Community. Beyond Rhetoric: Challenges and the Way Forward’.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 16, Mr. Johnson Adenola said it was important to recruit members for the Police Community Relations Committee from different backgrounds including the Police for adequate representation.
Mr. Adenola who stated that the current Police Act encourages Community Policing said the vision of the Inspector General of Police was to have a people friendly force, and one of the ways to achieving that was through a representative PCRC.
National Chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee, Alhaji Mogaji Olaniyan in a remark while acknowledging the relative peace in Bayelsa and Rivers States that make up Zone 16, charged the PCRC to do more to accommodate stakeholders.
The Deputy National Chairman, South South PCRC, Mr. Kenneth Otuonunyo and the Chairman, Zone 16, Bishop Moses Omonkhuale said some level of progress had been achieved in the area.
The Chairman, PCRC Rivers State Command, Mr. Voke Emore and his Bayelsa counterpart, Dr. James Neminebor used the occasion to outline some of their achievements including provision of logistics and welfare support to the police.
Earlier, Chairman of the Planning Committee, His Royal Highness, Dr. Morrison Odede said the event was organized to honour policemen and eminent persons who had contributed to a better society.
The ceremony which was attended by the Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State Command, Mr. Alonyenu Idu and a representative of the CP Rivers State Command, Mr. Olugbenga Adepoju had the presentation of awards to officers and other distinguished personalities.
