Kenya

Organisations such as Chemchemi Ya Ukweli (CYU) identify community-based policing as an answer to growing levels of crime and violence. This is an approach to policing that brings together the police, civil society and local communities to develop local solutions to local safety and security concerns and hold the police accountable. The Kenyan police service is currently undergoing reforms based on recommendations made by the National Task Force on Police Reforms which suggest that community policing should be a central pillar of policing within Kenya. Recently, the police response to terrorism has changed the dynamics and put all the efforts invested in community policing at risk. The use of unnecessary force and extrajudicial killings has angered communities. The CYU advocates an approach which addresses the issues that are driving young people towards terrorist groups and criminal gangs and offers amnesty and support with reintegration for returnees in place of ever more militarised policing. Source: Oluoch, 2017.