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Key Text Democratizing Security or Decentralizing Repression? The Ambiguities of Community Policing in Kenya

Author: M Ruteere and M Pommerolle
Date: 2003
Size: 18 pages

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Summary

Community policing strategies have been developed and applied in western countries from the 1980s, and recently adopted by developing countries. Have they been successful in addressing and solving the causes of increasing crime or have they contributed to the preservation of inequalities?

This article from the Royal African Society addresses this issue in relation to Kenya, where two very different community policing projects have been implemented. Kenya has always suffered from high rates of crime and from a corrupt police force. Therefore, projects that are based on the co-operation between police and civil society have been adopted in the attempt to improve security, both democratically and efficiently. The two civil society organisations involved are the Nairobi Central Business District Association (NCBDA) and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC).

The two projects were set in very different contexts and have very different characteristics which contributed to the partial success of the NCBDA one and the complete failure of the KHRC project. In particular:

For the NCBDA, community policing is interpreted as a public-private partnership where the main issue is the delivery of goods that are usually provided by the public sector.
The KHRC instead considers community policing as a tool to enforce human rights which are often threatened by the police forces, and addresses the problem of the distrust between communities and the police.
For the first project, the shared interests between the two actors and the financial resources obtained by the police explain its success.
For the second project, distrust and human rights abuses have remained and the lack of financial gains for the police has contributed to persistence of corruption.
The NCBDA, as a business organisation, has never taken the financial risk of criticising the authorities over issues of institutional failures.

The ambiguity of the concept of community policing and its different interpretations mean its use varies depending on the actor involved. Although adopted as a way to increase democracy and accountability in the policing processes, in Kenya it has contributed to the maintenance of social inequality and the undemocratic order typical of that society.

Both the NCBDA and the KHRC represent small groups, respectively big businesses and landowners. Those outside of these groups on the periphery of power are even more marginalised and abused by the police.
These civic organisations have failed to address the wider political context, characterised by corruption, coercion and clientelism and have failed to tackle the deep causes of insecurity.
In cases where distrust towards the police is strong, community policing can lead to vigilantism and violence.

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Source: Ruteere, M., and Pommerolle, M., 2003, ‘Democratizing Security or Decentralizing Repression ? The Ambiguities of Community Policing in Kenya’ in African Affairs Volume 102, No. 409, Royal African Society, pp. 587–604 (18).
Author: Marie-Emmanuelle Pommerolle , mepommerolle@free.fr
Royal African Society, http://www.royalafricansociety.org/