The author is a lecturer in history at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. While there has been much scholarly study of the Nigeria Police Force controlled by the Federal Government, this is the first comprehensive study of the origins, development, organisation, role and demise of the Native Authority/Local Government Police Forces in Nigeria. It clarifies many of the grey areas about their history and essence, and informs the current debate about who should own and control the police in a federal state. From early in colonial times the armed Nigeria Police Force operated nationally; whilst the Native Authority/Local Government Police Forces also operated in the Northern and Western Regions. They were abolished on the advent of military rule in 1966. The author believes that the principle of federalism should govern the owning and control of the police in a democratic, federal nation. But crucially he illustrates how ignorance of the true history of the local police forces has clouded the debate about the desirability, or otherwise, of liberalising the control of the police in a democratic, federal state like Nigeria in the 21st century.