TO GET THE COMPLETE JOURNAL/THESIS FOR TOPIC BELOW,
CALL: 08168759420, 08068231953
WHATSAPP: 08137701720
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE
ABSTRACT
This research critically analysed the public perception of the Nigeria Police Force within the context of procedural justice. A total number of 216 respondents comprising 165 males, 46 females and 5 preferred not to say participated in the study. Twenty-Two (22) questions self-developed questionnaire approved by the ICJS Research Ethics Committee was used to collect data from the respondents via Bristol Online Surveys using various social media platforms. The raw data were analysed using the Likert scale of measurement, 1-5: 1 representing strongly disagreed and 5 strongly agreed. Three variables were used in the evaluation of policing in Nigeria. The public perception of Nigeria Police Force is summarised in means scores on these variables as follows: Trustworthiness: 2.53 indicating the public in the research sample lack trust and confidence in the Nigeria police; Procedural Justice: 2.16, the public in the research sample think that policing in Nigeria is not within the confines of the law and also not in line with the international best practices; lastly, Effectiveness: 2.47 showing the public in the research, sample think the police performance is poor and has negative views on the nature of security and safety in Nigeria. Three hypotheses predicted the difference in the public perception of Nigeria police using demographic features (gender, literacy and ethnicity) were formulated and tested using independent t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), respectively. It was found that gender and literacy have no effect on the public perception of the NPF, while the results on ethnicity, shows there is a significant difference in the public perception of the police. Recommendations were made in line with the international best practices and procedural justice the expectation of policing that will improve the quality of policing and the image of the force in both voluntary and involuntary encounters with the police thereby enhancing the policepublic cordial relationship and collective efforts in the fight against crime in Nigeria.
KEY WORDS: PERCEPTION; POLICING; PROCEDURAL; JUSTICE; LAW.