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POLICE BRUTALITY (A GLOBAL PHENOMENON): By Uwakwe Roland

The recent police activities in Dallas, United States has yet confirmed the fact that police brutality is not an exclusive domain of the Nigeria Police Force which is known for abuse of human rights , battery and unreported bad treatment of citizens, making nonsense of the catching phrase “police is your friend”.


Police brutality is the deliberate use of excessive force, usually physical, carried out during law enforcement activities by a police officer engaging the civilian population. This type of behaviour also includes verbal attacks and psychological intimidation by a police officer. Widespread police brutality exists in many countries and can manifest in the following ways: false arrest; intimidation; racial profiling; political repression; surveillance abuse; sexual abuse; and police corruption (particularly in Nigeria). Although these activities are illegal, they can be performed under the colour of law.

The question is, why would a police officer brutalize a citizen whom he swore to protect? While colour or race is a major factor in places like the US, in Nigeria it is corruption, indiscipline and the abuse of power. There is this psychological feeling of superiority that comes to a man who is giving the authority to handle a gun, this attitude becomes very destructive when such a person lacks knowledge. For instance if you meet an average Nigeria police officer on the way and try maintaining your right, he or she feels intimidated because to him he is the ‘LORD’ and you are the ‘SERVANT’ and his orders must be respected. For some of us who are familiar with the activities of the Nigeria Civil Defence, you will agree with me that at the initial stage, that organization paraded cool headed individuals until government approved their use of arms, today they are like terror to the society.

One important point to make is that the mode of recruitment of the officers and men of the force is defective. Recruiting agencies, in our case here the Nigeria Police Commission do not carry out adequate background checks of the persons coming into the force, hence a criminal or some persons of questionable characters join the force in order to cover up their criminality.

The concept of the rule of law presupposes that everybody including officers and men of the force are bound by the law. Therefore to control these activities, the government and persons in authority must prosecute and if found guilty sentence officers who abuse civilians to stand as a deterrent to will be offenders. My compassion goes to the victims of police brutality all over the world. 

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