Opinion by Monday Alade, Maryland, United States
In my capacity as a police officer serving the State of Maryland, US and a native of Nigeria, I recently recorded a video capturing the Baltimore City Police Department’s aerial surveillance patrol over Lake Clifton; an operation carried out to deter criminal activity, detect real-time threats, and deploy tactical response teams where needed. That single, quiet flyover symbolizes a deep-rooted culture of proactive law enforcement, powered by real-time intelligence gathering, aerial reconnaissance, and strategic situational awareness.
This video was not created for entertainment. It was produced as a teaching tool for Nigeria's security architecture—for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the 36 state governors, the National Security Adviser (NSA), and both chambers of the National Assembly. It offers a glimpse into how modern police units across the world operate in prevention-first frameworks, rather than the reactionary, often-absent responses we tragically witness across Nigeria.
🇳🇬 A Security Breakdown Too Deep to Ignore
How does a nation explain the silence and paralysis when entire communities in Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger, and Borno are sacked by armed non-state actors; some riding in convoys, some on motorcycles, armed with military-grade weapons, and often moving unchallenged?
How does one explain the abduction of schoolchildren, execution of village heads, and the destruction of farms and livelihoods with no air surveillance, no ground pursuit, no rapid tactical response, and no forensic follow-up?
In the United States, such events would trigger multi-agency coordination—with airborne units, SWAT, K-9 units, thermal imaging drones, and dispatch-based geolocation tracking responding within minutes.
🎥 The Baltimore Aerial Surveillance Model: A Case Study
In the video I recorded, the Baltimore Police Department’s helicopter circled the Lake Clifton area—an operation driven by predictive crime mapping, GIS-enabled patrol scheduling, and command center dispatching based on threat alerts.
These operations are not symbolic. They are:
Crime deterrents — The sound and visibility of an overhead chopper changes criminal calculus.
Tactical overwatch — Aerial units provide live feed to ground officers via bodycam relays and command terminals.
Real-time force multiplication — Officers on foot or in patrol cars are never alone; they operate in a dynamic grid of eyes-in-the-sky.
Rapid deployment initiators — Once a suspect is spotted from the air, K9 units, SWAT, or specialized foot patrols are vector-locked to intercept.
This level of situational awareness and coordination is absent in Nigeria, where citizens often live under siege without any credible security shield.
💡 A Strategic Path Forward for Nigeria
Mr. President, Governors, Legislators, and National Security Chiefs, we cannot fight 21st-century asymmetric threats with 20th-century policing methods. Nigeria must:
1. Establish Aerial Surveillance Units in Every State Command
Equip each Nigerian Police Force command with reconnaissance helicopters, fixed-wing drones, and aerial infrared imaging systems. Criminals flee when they know they're being watched from above.
2. Build Inter-Agency Fusion Centers
Create centralized Security Intelligence Fusion Centers linking police, military, DSS, civil defense, and local vigilantes. Use predictive analytics to map flashpoints, not just react to them.
3. Deploy Forward Operating Tactical Teams (FOTTs)
Like SWAT in the U.S., Nigeria must have mobile, high-speed tactical teams that are airlift-capable, trained in rural combat and hostage rescue, and positioned strategically across volatile zones.
4. Introduce Crime Heat Mapping and Real-Time Crime Centers (RTCCs)
Embrace AI-driven surveillance hubs that collect data from CCTV networks, informant tips, mobile towers, and drone footage to visualize emerging threats before they erupt.
5. Implement a National Airborne Law Enforcement Strategy (NALES)
Mandate each geopolitical zone to operate at least one regional air command with night vision helicopters, long-range UAVs, and command linkage to tactical response squads.
6. Empower Local Intelligence & Community Policing
Shift toward community-aligned intelligence gathering supported by geo-fencing and live surveillance in at-risk areas. Encourage anonymous digital reporting platforms, not fear-driven silence.
🧠The Mental Shift Nigeria Must Make
Security isn't just weapons and men; it is doctrine, strategy, data, foresight, and accountability. In the U.S., every officer operates within a digital ecosystem of real-time surveillance, threat grids, and continuous training in crisis containment.
In Nigeria, officers are often under-equipped, under-trained, or mis-deployed—guarding VIPs while villages burn, checkpoints idle while killers ride free.
The tragedy is not just that these attacks happen. The greater tragedy is that no credible countermeasures follow. The criminal impunity has become a form of systemic betrayal.
🎯 My Message as a Nigerian Officer Abroad
I offer this not as criticism, but as a strategic advisory and heartfelt appeal. I have seen firsthand how disciplined surveillance, aerial policing, and integrated tactical responses save lives and restore order.
Let my video of the Baltimore Police aerial surveillance operation serve as a wake-up call, and a blueprint. Let it provoke our leaders to ask:
____ “Why can’t we do the same, or even better?”
Security is not a privilege. It is the right of every citizen—from the skyscrapers of Abuja to the remote farms of Logo LGA in Benue.
If the Nigerian Police and Security Forces are ready to evolve, I—and others in the diaspora—stand ready to help.
Nigeria does not lack courage. What it needs is coordination, commitment, and the political will to modernize.
Officer Monday Alade
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Nigerian-American Police Officer | Tactical Operations Advisor
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