SOCIO ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF POLICE CORRUPTION ON CRIME PREVENTION AND CONTROL IN AWKA SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

Police corruption seems to have defied the myriad efforts put in place to redress it in Nigeria. It is almost incontrovertible that a corrupt police force may not in practical terms be effective in crime prevention and control. This is against the backdrop that the supposedly institutional mechanisms put in place to check these excesses are either weak or nonexistent. This paper therefore investigated the socio economic implications of police corruption on crime prevention and control in Awka South Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra state. Awka south LGA was chosen purposively because Awka metropolis is situated there and Awka metropolis is the capital of Anambra state. Wilson and Kelling’s Broken Window Theory constituted the theoretical framework for the paper. The mixed methods design was adopted and a sample size of 400 study participants was chosen by the researchers. Quantitative data collated were processed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics involving the use of frequency counts and percents were used for analyzing the quantitative data while the study hypotheses were tested with the chi square test statistic. It was found among others that greed in the police force was partly responsible for inability of the police to prevent and control crime in Awka south LGA. Weak institutional mechanisms and the prevailing value system in the country were found to exacerbate police corruption in Awka south LGA. The paper therefore recommended among several others the need to strengthen the nation’s institutions to become responsive and proactive. It was also suggested that it has become imperative for change in our value system to mitigate the propensity for material acquisitiveness.