Two programmes came up with similar that the police deviated from their traditional role of law enforcement and colluded with the military to perpetuate dictatorship in the country. It was, therefore, recommended that a comprehensive reorganisation and reorientation is urgently needed to make the police alive and responsive to their duties under a democracy. Two dimensions of police violence are considered. These are the use of violence against citizens by the police and citizen's violence against the police. The data obtained and analysed in the course of this study indicate that the use of violence against citizens by the Nigeria Police is common. .
Data also reveal incidence of violence against police by citizens.
The most common form of contact between the police and citizen is involuntary law enforcement encounter. This occurs more frequently on highways where Nigeria police mount checkpoints and carry out 'stop and search', and possibly arrest. The study also reveals widespread ignorance and misperception about the role and powers of the police by the public. The misperception derives from the historical legacy of using police to suppress the citizens by colonial and post-colonial governments. Thus, citizens resent police, even when they are exercising their legitimate powers in the course of legally permissible law enforcement activities.