Watchful eyes: a community police officer in Amhara State—with the former leader of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, looking down from behind. ODI / Lisa Denney. Some rights reserved.
In November 2014 the UK Department for International Development suspended a £62.5m police-reform programme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This followed a United Nations report which found sections of the police force there responsible for the murder of civilians during a crackdown on gangs in 2013-14.
Making policing more citizen-friendly is a clear priority in many countries where police are viewed as a source of insecurity, rather than protection (a perception as valid in places like Ferguson, Missouri as in the ‘fragile states’ which for many might first spring to mind). And, indeed, the UK’s engagement with the DRC police was precisely for this reason—to improve the quality of policing that Congolese experience. Yet the ‘community policing’ answer is far from straightforward.
