Police and crime prevention in Africa: a brief …

1 Police and crime prevention in Africa: a brief appraisal of structures, policies and practices Elrena van der Spuy & Ricky R ntsch Cape Town Draft reported on October 31st 2008 Police AND crime prevention IN AFRICA: A brief appraisal 2 LIST OF ACRONYMS BAC Business Against crime , South Africa CCM Chama Cha Mapinduzi Party, Uganda CLEEN Centre for Law Enforcement Education, Nigeria CLOs Community Liaison Officer, Uganda CPF Community Police Forum, Kenya and South Africa CSIR Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research DFID Department for International Development, UK DPC District Police Commander, Uganda EU European Union GJLOS Governance, Justice, Law and Order Sector, Kenya J/LOS Justice Law and Order Sector.

2 Uganda ICITAP International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Programme ICPC International Centre for crime prevention KANU Kenya African National Union KPF Kenya Police Force LAP Local Administration Police , Uganda LCs Local Councils, Uganda MOPOL Mobile Police , Nigeria NPF Nigeria Police Force NRM National Resistance Movement, Uganda OFFLACK The Oscar Foundation Free Legal Aid Clinic-Kenya SADC Southern African Development Community SARPCCO Southern African Regional Police Chief Coordinating Organisation SAP Structural Adjustment Programmes SAPS South African Police Service TANU Tanganyika African National Union NCPS National crime prevention Strategy, South Africa UPF Uganda Police Force VCS Victim crime surveys Police AND crime prevention IN AFRICA.

3 A brief appraisal 3 CONTENT A Background to the Report 4 B Country Case Studies 6 Kenya 6 Context 6 Police agencies 9 Organisational structure of Police 11 Community policing 15 crime prevention in current Police reform programmes 20 Challenges 21 Nigeria 22 Context 22 Police agencies 25 Organisational structure of Police 27 Community policing 29 crime prevention in current Police reform programmes 32 Challenges

4 33 South Africa 35 Context 35 Police agencies 38 Organisational structure of Police 44 crime prevention activities of the policing agencies 50 Challenges 57 Tanzania 58 Context 58 Police agencies 61 Organisational structure of Police 62 Community policing 65 crime prevention in current Police reform programmes 66 Challenges

5 66 Uganda 67 Context 67 Police agencies 68 Organisational structure of Police 70 Community policing 72 crime prevention in current Police reform programmes 74 Challenges 76 C Concluding Comments 78 Police AND crime prevention IN AFRICA.

6 A brief appraisal 4 A BACKGROUND TO THE REPORT Terms of reference for the Report The terms of reference for the report as set out by the International Centre for the prevention of crime (ICPC) were to provide a short appraisal of Police services in a select number of sub-Saharan countries regarding their involvement in the prevention of crime . The country case studies to be included were Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Purpose of the appraisal The appraisal is to help inform ICPC s ongoing engagement with the role of Police in crime prevention by situating the discussion within the challenging context of post-conflict reconstruction in Africa.

7 This appraisal takes place in the aftermath of a two- day workshop held in May 2007 under the auspices of ICPC, in collaboration with SAPS and CSIR, which brought together about 80 delegates from various sub-Saharan countries to explore, through practical field examples, the specific role of Police in the broader policy matrix of community Police -partnerships for crime prevention . This appraisal is also meant to provide baseline data for the forthcoming deliberations of the 7th Annual ICPC Colloquium to be held in Oslo, Norway.

8 The Oslo discussions are to be organised under three core themes: Strategies and mechanisms towards effective partnerships and cooperative alliances between Police and other constituencies; Impact of organisational culture and structure of the Police regarding crime prevention ; Contribution of knowledge-based developments on the Police and crime prevention . Furthermore, three roundtable discussions will focus on Police reform in post-conflict settings, with a view to examining the opportunities for mainstreaming crime prevention in reform policy and practices in support of the broader modernisation and democratisation agenda for Africa s public Police agencies.

9 Research methodology The research consisted of a desktop review, the success of which is predicated upon access to English-language electronically available material. The limitations inherent in desktop research of this nature need to be acknowledged but were inevitable given the time and budget constraints under which it was undertaken. The limitations of the desktop review were further compounded by the difficulties associated with a topic as steeped in controversy and as under-researched as the public Police in Africa. The review was supplemented in small measure by interactions with UN Habitat Safer Cities staff in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and discussions with crime prevention experts and practitioners located at CSIR and SAPS in Pretoria.

10 Police AND crime prevention IN AFRICA: A brief appraisal 5 structure of the country-specific reports Each of the country reports deals with the following six topics: Context which contains brief comments about the political context and the transition to democratic constitutional rule as well as an overview of the crime context within which the role of the Police needs to be situated. Police agencies which describes the legal framework within which the Police operate and its duties as defined by law; the key organisational features of the Police agencies; and, a discussion of the policy documents pertaining to the crime prevention mandate of the Police .