Police oversight professional#

This study investigated the knowledge and willingness of University of Ibadan graduate students regarding seeking redress against professional misconduct by personnel of the Nigeria Police Force. It is imperative that the Police Service Commission and the management of the Nigeria Police Force develop viable strategies through which the public can be adequately sensitised regarding the available channels and the steps that can be taken to file complaints against misuse of power by police personnel. There was no association (χ ² = 3.340 P > 0.05) between respondents’ gender and the gender of police officials they were willing to report. More than half (52%) were unwilling to seek redress against police misconduct for a variety of reasons.

The results showed that 55.2% of students were unaware of the available internal channels through which redress can be sought. Data were accessed through survey and in-depth interview methods.

The theory of reasoned action was adopted as the conceptual framework. The major obstacles to police oversight are: the unfavourable operating environment for the civic society, limited investigative powers for the ZHRC, and the dominance of Parliament by a single political party. Parliament’s main oversight role is through monitoring the police through the relevant portfolio committee. The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) handles human rights-related complaints against the police, though findings revealed that investigations are done by the police. Second was the civic society, which comprised the media and non-governmental organisations, and is playing its oversight role through exposing incidents of police abuse and offering legal assistance to victims of police abuse. The Court was considered to be the most effective oversight institution and it plays its role through scrutinising propriety of police actions and presiding over civil suits against the police. Primary data were obtained from representatives of external accountability institutions (N = 126) through a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews. This study evaluated selected police oversight institutions in Zimbabwe.

Police oversight