Stakeholders' Perception of Police Effectiveness in Kwara State

The effectiveness of Police Force in ensuring crime free society is intricately tied to the level of professionalism exhibited by its personnel. However, the extent which stakeholders are satisfied with the professional conducts of personnel of the Nigeria Police force, Kwara State command in Nigeria is empirically scanty. Therefore, this study assessed the level of professional conduct among the Nigeria Police Force in Kwara State. A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. Thus, Key-Informant Interviews, In-depth Interview and structured questionnaire were used to elicit data from respondents. The research sample consisted of (470) respondents including civil societies organization, Police personnel, academia, youths and community leaders selected by using multi-stage sampling technique. Out of the administered copies of questionnaire (464) copies were retrieved and analysed using descriptive statistics analysis, while (16) interviews were conducted and subjected to content analysis. The findings revealed that Police officers were not effective in weapon handling and discharge, poor display of good integrity and inadequate police-citizen’s communication, while the challenges to effective police professionalism in the State were welfare and motivation deficits, lack of proper implementations of reforms and faulty recruitment process. The study concluded that police professional conduct in Kwara State is in-adequate and recommended that there should be continuous in-service training for police personnel and, overhaul of police welfare package in line with global best practices.