The Inspector-General of  Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, has urged policemen in the country to partner with the public for effective policing.

Speaking at the Police Public Relations Officers Training and Conference in Uyo,  Wednesday on the theme “Effective Communication for a Better Secured and Prosperous Nigeria”, the Inspector General  said the police must make people believe understand that they were meant to serve them.

“You must seek for collaboration; you must seek for partnership with the people you serve. You cannot police the country without the people. “Today’s event, among other considerations, is designed to equip the Police Public Relations Officers with the requisite professional skills. “And knowledge needed to effectively manage the image and perception of the police as well as engaging the public efficiently in the face of rising extremism, criminality and terrorism in the country.

“I, therefore, call on everyone here to take advantage of the intellectual and social benefits which the four-day workshop will offer,” he said.

Abubakar added that the training was one of the new strategies in the reform agenda in the force.

He said it was designed for capacity building for Public Relations Department with the objective of “deepening confidence, strengthening our relationship with the public and boosting the overall image of the force’’.

The police boss expressed the conviction that by the end of the programme each participant would have been equipped on how to make people build confidence in the police.

Gov. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, who declared the conference open, said he considered the capacity building for police public relations officers as right steps in the right direction.

Represented by his deputy, Mrs Valerie Ebe Akpabio said the PPROs had a duty to change the public perception of the police as well as present the force as friends of the public.

“The public needed to see the friendship in the eyes and action of the police. The public must cooperate with the police to make Nigeria a crime-free society,” Akpabio said.

In his goodwill message, the Director, Defence Information, Nigeria Armed Forces, Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said that collaboration of the army and other security agencies was crucial to the security of the country.

Olukolade praised the leadership of the police toward transforming and strengthening information management and public relations in the force.