Article Psychological factors as predictors of readiness to combat crime among police officers in Osun State Command, Nigeria Adeboye Titus Ayinde (Department of Psychology,) Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria Olusola Abayomi Ayegun (Department of Psychology,) Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria Abstract The increasing crime rate and apparent reduction in combatting crime by law enforcement agencies in Nigeria, particularly the Nigerian Police, deserve attention from a psychological point of view. This study examined the extent to which locus of control and emotional intelligence (EI) predict readiness to combat crime among police officers in Osun State Police Command, Nigeria. The study used primary data embedded in a descriptive survey design. A multistage sampling technique was adopted to obtain data from the sample population. Three police area commands in Osun State, namely Osogbo, Ile- Ife and Ilesa, were selected for the study. The sample comprised 258 police officers selected using a stratified random technique with different units of command as the basis of stratification. Three instruments, the Work Locus of Control Scale, Brief Emotional Intelligence Scale and Readiness to Combat Crime Scale were used. Data were analysed using descriptive (percentage count) and inferential statistics (linear regression and t-test). The results showed that locus of control did not significantly predict readiness to combat crime among police officers in Osun State Command [F(1,214) ¼ 0.371; p > 0.05], whereas EI [F(1,225) ¼ 131.045; p < 0.05] did. The study concluded that EI successfully predicted readiness to combat crime among police officers in Osun State Command, whereas locus of control had no influence. Keywords Locus of control, emotional intelligence, crime combat, police readiness, Nigeria Submitted 18 Dec 2017, accepted 26 Sep 2018 Background The recent upsurge in violent crime in Nigeria may have created enormous uncertainty regarding the safety of life and individual property, and social stability in general. Armed robbery, arson, drug-trafficking and abuse, murder, kidnapping, rape, hired assassinations and ritual killing, coupled with rising insurgency, are examples of the most serious and violent crimes, and incidents seem to have increased in the recent past. Correspondingly, ‘white collar’ crimes in the form of advance fee fraud (popularly known as419), contract deals, embezzlement and mismanagement in both the public and private sectors also appear to be on the increase. Odekunle (2005) notes that Nigeria has been experiencing what is referred to in the criminology literature as a ‘crime problem’. The magnitude of crimes mostly com- mitted by the less privileged and white collar crimes mostly committed by the highly placed individuals, call for a change in the strategies used to prevent and control crime in Nigeria (Brownson, 2012). Daniel (2011) opines that ‘A situation Corresponding author: Adeboye Titus Ayinde, Department of Psychology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Emails: ayindade@oauife.edu.ng; adedickson@yahoo.com International Journal of Police Science & Management 2018, Vol. 20(4) 296–305 ª The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1461355718814852 journals.sagepub.com/home/psm