Alternative Approach To Policing The Covid-19 Induced Lock-Down: The Need For Integrating The Community Policing Approach In Rivers State, Nigeria
Destiny Eze Agwanwo
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Nigeria.
Samuel Iornienge Zumve
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Federal University Dutsin-ma, Katsina State, Nigeria
Keywords: Covid-19, policing, security agents, community policing, human rights violations, Rivers State
Abstract
The outbreak of the health pandemic known as Covid-19, more than any of the previous pandemics in human history, has claimed the greatest number of lives around the world, and has brought about sweeping changes in all aspects of human life. This study examined the Covid-19 induced lockdown and the enforcement of the various Covid-19 health safety measures by the security agents. Content analysis was used as the research method. The study showed that security agents deployed for the enforcement of the Covid-19 safety measures during the lockdown were engaged in gross human rights violations which include the extortion of money from motorist and travelers moving through the states’ borders; rape and torture of Covid-19 guideline defaulters, and at its extreme, killing of some citizens. Given the unrestrained perpetration of the these deviant acts by security agents during the Covid-19 lockdown in Nigeria, particularly in Rivers State, the study recommended an alternative approach of policing which is community policing method in the State to safeguard the rights of, and enhance the quality of life of citizens