Bruce Baker draws on his policing experience in a number of African countries.  He talks about community policing and the vital though sometimes controversial role of non-state security actors in areas where the police struggle to extend their authority.  He also discusses the intersection of non-state security groups and customary justice, and he offers reflections on donor and host-country partnerships.

Case Study:  Building Civilian Police Capacity: Post-Conflict Liberia, 2003-2011

Mike McCormack, co-president of the Guyana Human Rights Association at the time of this interview, discusses many challenges to protecting human rights in Guyana.  With more than 30 years' experience working on human rights issues in the country, he is able to chart progress and setbacks with a deep knowledge base.  McCormack reflects on the extra-judicial killings of the past and present, the drug-related incidents that have become more common, and tensions between the human rights community and the police.  McCormack also touches upon the ethnic representation of the police and perceptions among the Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese communities as well as the disparities between the rural and urban police units.  He draws a distinct line between the prison system and the police as an organization.

Gail Teixeira shares her experiences with policing reform and domestic security issues during her tenure as minister of home affairs in Guyana, first as acting minister in 2004 and then officially in the post from 2005 to 2006.  She describes in detail the process of establishing a functioning civilian police force, including the utilization of community-based rural constables and volunteer neighborhood police as well as the more macro-level issues of donor relations and compliance with international norms as identified by the United Nations.  She provides a compelling account of the challenge of adhering to the cultural and historical expectations of the people at the same time that outside financial assistance and training is going on. The decentralization of the reforms and the policing system are of particular interest, especially in the face of drug-related gang activities.

Eric Scheye discusses his experiences working on police reform programs around the world with the United Nations and as an independent consultant. He begins by discussing the tensions inherent in donor-funded reform programs. As there is often a rush to implement police reform programs, he notes, they are not necessarily tailored to local contexts and circumstances. Scheye goes on to talk about challenges in effective police recruitment and vetting processes, including in Bosnia and Timor-Leste where political maneuvering and ethnic divisions were considerations in developing new police leadership structures. He argues that in order to build long-term accountability, internal reform efforts should take precedence over external accountability mechanisms. Further, in order to retain officers, police training, states Scheye, should be embedded in a management-training program with appropriate incentives. He notes that evaluating a reform program can be challenging and requires political astuteness and listening as much as numbers. Finally, Scheye discusses the provision of policing services in Yemen and Sudan by non-state actors such as customary chiefs. Given that customary chiefs have high levels of legitimacy and wield justice in areas where state police services tend to be limited, Scheye suggests that donors consider new approaches to constructively engaging with non-state actors. 

Martin Schönteich, a senior legal officer with the Open Society Justice Initiative, discusses police reform in post-apartheid South Africa. He discusses some of the challenges of the integration and amalgamation of new and old police forces, including in ensuring that the recruitment process was perceived as fair, integrating new forces despite limited retirement of older forces, and the challenges that literacy and resource constraints posed to effectively recruiting and training new forces. He goes on to discuss how South Africa addressed a number of challenges in building its new police agency. Some strategies employed included: increasing pay to attract more and better recruits, implementing new information management systems, and bringing in private consulting agencies to develop internal management structures. Schönteich proceeds to discuss the possibility of greater collaboration between the police and private non-state security actors. He concludes by noting that in countries in transition, developing “sound and effective” institutions takes time. Countries may face an initial increase in crime until institutional reforms are effectively implemented.