Mr Don Awunah, an Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) on Monday assumed office as the AIG in charge of Zone 16 Command comprising Bayelsa and Rivers States Commands.
According to Awunah, we are going to adopt new strategies in policing anchored on community policing, community engagement, partnership and problem solving, as the people of the zone will own the police.
Awunah said this on assumption of duty at the Zonal headquarters in Yenagoa.
The AIG said that the zone was expected to play a dominant role in supervision and guidance.
According to him, the job of policing is one, so the structure we have is to support all structures to serve the people better.
“We must create partnership; we must engage the people in solving problems, because the police cannot do it alone but with the support of the people the police can serve better.
“So, the centre of our policing is the people. And that is the objective of the Inspector-General of Police, which I am here to strive on,’’ he said.
Awunah said that the issue of crime and criminality was something all must work together as a people to tackle.
“The communities must come together. There is nowhere in the world that a particular people solve crime alone.’’
On the issue of kidnapping, he said that kidnapers were not ghost or criminals. They are human beings that the people could engage and avail the police with necessary information when the need arises.
The AIG said that the Inspector General of Police was determined to uplift the police through welfare, training and re-training, and called for all hands to be on deck as he wants to leave the police better than he met it.
He said that Bayelsa had remained low in crime for many reasons in the National Crime Index, and their attitude toward the police made it so.
He said that he intends to maintain and improve on it, because security was everyone’s responsibility.
Reports state that the new AIG was appointed after the retirement of the former AIG Austin Agbonlahor.
Awunah was the Commissioner of police, Bayelsa Police Command before his elevation.