Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 10/2010

Nonstate Policing: Expanding the Scope for Tackling Africa's Urban Violence

Bruce Baker

September 2010

Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Abstract

◆◆ Worsening urban violence is placing increasing demands on Africa's police departments.

◆◆ African police forces are typically woefully underresourced, inadequately trained, unaccountable, and distrusted by local communities, leaving them ineffective in addressing these security challenges.

◆◆ Nonstate or community-based policing groups often enjoy local support and knowledge, accessibility, and effectiveness. Accordingly, collaborative state-nonstate policing partnerships represent an underrecognized vehicle for substantially expanding security coverage in Africa's urban areas in the short term at reasonable cost.