CIAO DATE: 07/05

Philosophy and Principles of Community Based Policing

Abstract

This policy document forms the first part of a process of work that focuses on community-based policing (CBP) and how it can be implemented in conjunction with small arms and light weapons (SALW) initiatives. The document will serve as a framework for the South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC) to guide the development and implementation of CBP in the region. It will also form part of a set of tools that the UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) is producing. The second phase of this work will provide an operational framework for the UNDP Country Office in Albania for implementing CBP in Albania.

The regional context of security and policing in South Eastern Europe pose many challenges. Under the governments of the former Yugoslavia and Albania's Enver Hoxha, police forces across the region were maintained as highly centralised and often repressive components of the socialist state apparatus. The turmoil of the 1990s saw the secession of the Yugoslav republics, in some cases through violent conflict, and the collapse of the Hoxha regime. The ongoing political and economic instability and the challenges of state formation further aggravated conditions in already under-resourced state institutions. These events shaped and affected the police as well. Cross-border co-operation between police forces suffered particularly, as political animosity (in some cases open conflict) often precluded any such co-operation, despite the increased need for control due to the rise in trafficking to supply the conflicts and black markets that developed across the region. Human rights abuses, corruption, politicisation, little or no accountability to the public, the assumption of military-style roles and exclusion of certain ethnic groups in the police are all characteristics that police forces across the region have exhibited at various points during recent years. There are however, various initiatives underway to address these problems (with international support), providing an ideal opportunity for introducing a community-based style of policing.

Full Text (PDF, 40 pages, 574.2 KB)