PCRC To Undergo Repositioning In Rivers

Plans are underway to reposition the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) across all divisons in Rivers State to enable it adequately confront emerging challenges.

The PCRC Chairman in the State, Mr Austen Yong who disclosed this Tuesday in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt said the plan had become imperative in view of some findings after Town Hall meetings held across divisions in Port Harcourt and Bori Area Commands.

“Before now, our focus has been what PCRC can do for the police, and with that kind of mindset, we discovered that the bridge between police and the people was getting wider and wider by the day”, he said, adding that the focus of the repositioning would be community – driven, through intensive and vigorous enlightenment campaign to bridge the gap.

“If we discover any division where PCRC is not functioning, we have to dissolve them, if weak, we revive and strengthen them and where there is no PCRC in a division, we have to get stakeholders to form PCRC there”, he stated.

Reacting to insinuations of  disagreement in some PCRC in the State, the State Chairman explained that the organisation was not a political party but a para security and disciplined organisation with members coming from different backgrounds and with every right to express divergent interests, noting that where some of the views were inconsistent with the tenets of PCRC, such stands and views would be sorted out.

He remarked that the major factors militating against police community collaboration were discord and mistrust, stressing that the only way to break down the barriers of distrust existing between the police and communities was consistent interactive fora.

According to him, the ultimate aim of the repositioning exercise was to engender confidence building with a commitment to crime prevention, community peace and justice and urged people and communities to always view the issue of security as a collective effort which requires all hands to be on deck.

Disclosing further, he said the leadership of PCRC in the state visited over 17 divisions in Bori and Port Harcourt Area Command and discovered a positive change in people’s attitude towards the police.

Chris Oluoh/Leticia Opusunju