Hills, A 2017 Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and stability Communications Technology in Hargeisa. Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 6(1): 6, pp. 1–16, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/sta.491

RESEARCH ARTICLE Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Technology in Hargeisa Alice Hills

This article addresses the connection between information and communications technology (ICT) and police-community engagement in environments characterised by high access to mobile telephones but minimal police response rates. It examines public responses to a text alert project in Somaliland’s capital Hargeisa in order to explore the everyday choices shaping low-level police-community engagement. Although the project failed (local people did not use mobiles to alert the police to security issues requiring attention), it offers contextualised insights into both the specifics of daily police-community relations and the use of mobiles as a two-way technology capable of reaching low-income or marginalised populations in relatively safe urban environments. In focusing on how local expectations are, rather than should be, fulfilled, it finds little evidence to suggest that access to ICT leads to more responsive or accountable policing. For police, activities are shaped as much by community expectations as by the technologies available, and local preferences can offset the availability of globalised ICT. From this perspective, the key to understanding police-community engagement is found in the knowledge, skills and resources police need to fulfil local expectations, rather than the expectations of international donors.

On 19 August 2015, the Somaliland Ministry residents would help to improve police- of Interior launched a text alert community community engagement and local security. police engagement programme at a small But the project did not work out as EUCAP police station in the Macalin Haruun district hoped. In the days following the launch, the of Hargeisa. Promoted enthusiastically by minister returned to his office, the publicity the minister and developed by advisers campaign evaporated, the mobiles donated from EUCAP Nestor, a civilian mission to the police stayed in their boxes, the forming part of the EC’s external action station’s commander went on leave for six programme, the project’s objective was weeks, the minister returned to his office, straightforward: members of the public and the station’s radio room was locked. By would use their mobile phones to alert the December, few if any, calls had been received. police to security issues requiring attention. Why should a modest and unsuccessful In becoming ‘the eyes and ears’ of the police, experiment in a dusty residential district (Wikimapia 2014) in the capital of a self- proclaimed republic deserve attention? The Durham University, GB project’s unexceptional record is typical as [email protected] far as the region’s crime reporting lines are Art. 2, page 2 of 16 Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Technology in Hargeisa concerned. There are, for instance, two toll- politically desirable goals such as poverty free lines in Mogadishu, one, 888, a crime reduction (DFID 2007), and the World Bank reporting number and one, 5555, a rape regularly presents ICT as a tool for improving reporting hotline run by an NGO. But while service delivery and accountability (World the 5555 line receives — and responds to — Bank 2016), ICT’s potential application requests for support on a daily basis,1 the 888 to the communal security underpinning line has yet to receive calls from the general development needs to be assessed public. And with the possible exception of realistically. Kenya, the record of reporting lines elsewhere A second reason is that Macalin Haruun in Africa is similar, with repeated awareness- warns against assuming that ICT-related raising campaigns failing to increase call practices travel easily between societies. rates.2 Indeed, the record of such lines Prompted by the success in Kenya of ICT- suggests that the failure of text-based systems based banking systems such as M-Pesa, is only to be expected. Nevertheless, Macalin commercial companies such as M-Kopa, Haruun’s text alert system is noteworthy open-source tracking projects such as because it offers contextualised insights Ushahidi, which allows users to send crisis into both the specifics of police-community information via mobiles, and the ease engagement and the use of mobiles as a with which social media can be integrated two-way technology capable of reaching into community policing (Omanga 2015), low-income or marginalized populations in and reinforced by Somaliland’s cheap call relatively safe environments. It also raises tariffs and high rates of access to mobiles, general questions about the connection donors identify ICT as a tool for improving between communications technology and police-community engagement. Mobiles police-community relations in fragile states: are increasingly seen as a tool for sharing Can information and communications information and lessening the distrust and technology (ICT) help to facilitate trust poor response rates characterising everyday and communication between police and policing while facilitating desirable goals residents in societies with low literacy rates such as partnership and security for all. but high access to mobiles? What aspects Macalin Haruun’s experience suggests of ICT help residents manage their everyday that this is wishful thinking: what works in security? Is one-to-one communication Nairobi does not work in Hargeisa. Indeed, between police and residents more Macalin Haruun emphasises that local important than international models of norms and preferences can counteract the ‘community policing’? How important is the availability of globalised technology. police station as a site for engagement? What This article explores these issues using is the role of initiative in police-community Macalin Haruun as an instance of local interactions? What shapes low-level policing responses to a donor-designed policing in safe urban environments? project, rather than as a case study of text- Macalin Haruun’s project may have done based ICT and how it might change the little to increase crime reporting rates, yet current scenario. It contributes to current the experiment is more significant than understanding of police-community it first appears. One reason for this is that engagement in fragile environments by it introduces a note of caution into overly demonstrating that the key to sustainable ambitious discussions of development- and locally acceptable forms of police- oriented policing. Although donors such community engagement is to be found in the as the UK’s Department for International knowledge and technical skills police need to Development (DFID) have long assumed fulfil societal expectations and preferences that ICT ‘plays a key and integrated role in regarding the management of low-level accelerating progress’ towards achieving insecurity. This takes us beyond value-based Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Art. 2, page 3 of 16 Technology in Hargeisa assessments of formal and informal type-writers, let alone computers and policing provisions, and debates about the connectivity.3 significance of trust and procedural justice Despite this, the export of democratic in determining police-community relations policing models has become a major (Sunshine and Tyler 2003; Tankebe 2009), industry — and scholarly sub-field — over while emphasising that the relationship the last two decades, with millions of between police and community and the dollars poured into ambitious projects role of ICT within it depends on a range of intended to transfer ‘professional’ policing context-specific variables. strategies, procedures and tactics to Africa’s The discussion that follows develops in police (OECD-DAC 2007). The results are, four parts. The first provides background at best, uneven. Perhaps because of this, on the dominant perspectives influencing reform advocates now look to exploit the donor expectations regarding ICT, policing opportunities for change and innovation strategies and police-community engage- associated with ICT even though ICT’s record ment. The second focuses on the rationale as a tool for improving people’s quality of behind the introduction of Macalin Haruun’s life, let alone their policing, is patchy; social text alert system and the Somaliland police’s realities are such that ICT cannot affect the experience of it. The third shifts to why overall incidence of insecurity, poverty and the project failed and what local people ill-health (Avergerou 2010: 3–6; World Bank thought of it. Based on the views of focus 2011; Banks 2013). Furthermore, much of groups exploring residents’ expectations of the donor-supplied technology addresses the police, experience of visiting Macalin the internal technicalities of police work Haruun station, and knowledge of the text (e.g., forensic laboratories), rather than alert system, it offers an explanation for the everyday concerns of the communities what actually happened. The fourth part populating the policing environment. concludes that Macalin Haruun’s experience Donors prioritize sophisticated forms of ICT, reflects local expectations of police provi- like computers, over the basic and inclusive sion and how they are, rather than should forms of communication, such as radio be, fulfilled. programmes, songs, murals, and painted advertisements that most people rely on. In Connecting Technology and Police- other words, donors’ aims and objectives are Community Engagement disconnected from local realities, so ICT fails At first glance, the connection between tech- to relate to the socio-economic situation in nology and police-community engagement which it is applied. in Africa is tenuous. The continent’s police Our knowledge base on the connections forces are usually described as corrupt, inef- between technology and police-community fective, resistant to change, and lacking in engagement in Africa’s societies remains the technical skills and resources needed for heavily dependent on developments humane engagement practices; most pro- in Kenya, which is widely regarded as a vide regime policing rather than community beacon for the application of ICT to police- service, and are tolerated rather than trusted. related issues. There is some truth in this. General duties constables in countries from Kenya’s National Police Service Strategic Ghana and Nigeria to Kenya and Somalia Plan 2013–2017 identifies the application may have access to personal mobiles but of ICT in policing work as one of its eight many are also badly paid, untrained, unfit or strategic priority areas on the basis that ICT illiterate. With the exception of the occur- is a tool for modernising police-community rence books (i.e. ledgers for logging incidents engagement, with social media a means to and enquiries) found on front desks, most increase accountability and trust in the police police stations lack access to stationery and (NPS 2016: 9, 10, 12). The inspector general Art. 2, page 4 of 16 Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Technology in Hargeisa of the Kenyan Police Service uses social the academy’s approach to police and media regularly, as do high profile individuals policing provision ranges from focusing on such as Nakuru’s ‘Twitter chief’ (Omanga the informal or community-based groups 2015), while NGOs promote mobile-based providing the bulk of Africa’s everyday satisfaction surveys and the Independent security and justice (Albrecht and Kyed 2011) Police Oversight Authority (IPOA)’s website to theoretically informed analyses drawing allows complaints to be made online (IPOA on international relations or incorporating 2017). But Kenya’s approach has not been insights and approaches developed in critical taken up in Somaliland or Somalia. Donors security and post-colonial studies and the may provide ICT to special groups such as anthropology of the state (Göpfert 2013; Somaliland’s immigration police, but such Beek 2016). The globalisation of policing police do not interact directly with the public practices is one such case (Hönke and Müller (Hills 2016a) while informal self-help systems 2016), as is the turn to the local (Wiuff Moe such as the neighbourhood watch schemes and Müller 2016), while biopolitics is widely found in Hargeisa and Mogadishu cannot used as a reference point for analysing the afford to use mobiles, which are in any case application of state-led ICT-based disciplinary frequently stolen. Admittedly Mogadishu’s technologies to individuals and population most developed neighbourhood watch groups (O’Kane and Hepner 2011; Denney scheme uses computers (albeit without and Domingo 2015). Concepts borrowed internet connectivity) and photocopiers from anthropology and development studies donated by the British Embassy, but its are used to explain societal dynamics, outreach and training activities rely on song, most notably bricolage, of making use of posters and theatrical performances (Hills what is available (Olivier de Sardan 2005; 2016). Meanwhile, the Somali Police’s efforts Albrecht and Kyed 2011), and hybridity to improve engagement with Mogadishu’s which alludes to the grafting of conventional residents often involve the presence of the state-based structures onto clan-based Heegan Police Band at football matches and forms of governance (Bagayoko, Hutchful festivities. Further, personal observations and Luckham 2016). But ICT for police- since 2011 suggest that few police in community engagement and accountable Somaliland and Mogadishu see any need to governance has yet to receive serious engage with the populace, and when they attention (for an exception see Schomerus do they rely on face-to-face contact, rather and Rigterink 2015). than ICT. Kenya’s experience of using ICT Significantly, a modification is now for police-community engagement does not in progress that may help to rebalance transfer to Somaliland. the overall picture of police-community engagement. Researchers are rediscovering Dominant perspectives on policing the importance of police for the populace in provision countries ranging from Niger (Göpfert 2013) The literature available on ICT and and Uganda (Biecker and Schlichte 2014) development adds little depth to this to Nigeria and South Africa where Cooper- picture. While it seems reasonable to Knock and Owen find a high demand for expect the debate on ICT for everyday police services even as officers fall short of safety to be influenced by empirically-based expectations (Cooper-Knock and Owen 2015). analyses from inter-governmental or non- Indeed, Cooper-Knock and Owen show how governmental organisations, in practice, Nigerians and South Africans engage with decision-makers discuss policing in the police precisely because officers can perform light of liberal values such as accountability, valued bureaucratic tasks for them. Although diversity and ‘community’ engagement, the situation in technically developed forces rather than local preferences. Meanwhile such as Nigeria’s is very different to that Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Art. 2, page 5 of 16 Technology in Hargeisa found in Somaliland, Cooper-Knock and at managing the community, and this is Owen’s insight prompts questions about bound to influence people’s assessment the ways in which Hargeisa’s inhabitants use of ICT for engagement. Donor definitions — and help to reproduce — the police they may emphasise joint problem solving, often criticise. Macalin Haruun’s experience service, diversity and accountability, but reinforces this insight by showing how police the politically and functionally successful and populace share an understanding of forms of community policing found in their respective roles in managing low-level countries such as Nigeria and Ethiopia insecurity. require communities to take responsibility for their own security and feed information Community policing to the police (Hills 2014a; Denney 2013). At the same time as international researchers There is also policy-relevant confusion rediscover the importance of police for because community policing reflects donors’ local people, donors and researchers laud belief that police can be agents for social ‘communities’ with both evidently finding change; as Findlay and Zvekić note, donors comfort in the co-operation and harmony are pre-occupied with making policing more associated with community symbolism relevant in its social context, rather than (Findlay and Zvekić 1993: 32). Engagement merely improving its crime control capacity is framed in terms of democratic ideals and (Findlay and Zvekić 1993: 33). Even when values such as co-operation and partnership this is not the case — and EUCAP’s advisers in (Lindberg 2011), rather than, as is more Hargeisa focused on improving crime control realistic, the political economy of policing (de capacity in order to improve policing and Waal 2015), and this introduces ambiguity local security — community policing means into discussions of police-community whatever the speaker concerned wants it to relations. Even so, the term ‘community’ mean. is difficult to avoid. It is therefore is used Findlay and Zvekić define community here descriptively, rather than analytically, policing as a ‘selective process of referring merely to the inhabitants of communication and accountability’ (Findlay neighbourhoods or districts falling within and Zvekić 1993: 33), and this is the the responsibility of specific police stations; understanding adopted here. Their insight in this case, Macalin Haruun. that the ‘interactions of interest, power and One reason why it is difficult to find an authority’ distinguishing ‘the structures and alternative to ‘community’ is that donor functions of police work’ should be viewed projects on security and justice are typically as ‘constructed around expectations for framed in terms of ‘community policing’, a policing within a given cultural, political controversial notion which can be defined as and situational context’ is similarly helpful a philosophy or ideal that promotes policing (Findlay and Zvekić 1993: 6). In other words, as a shared endeavour in which police and police and communities ideally develop a communities work together to address crime pragmatic working relationship that builds and disorder. This results in conceptual on a locally acceptable understanding confusion about the operational direction of of their respective roles regarding the policing, with understanding ranging from management of low-level forms of disorder. ‘policing the community’ to ‘communities Macalin Haruun is one such case. Its officers policing the police’ (Brogden and Nijhar and residents have seemingly developed an 2005; Denney 2015). But in Africa, where understanding in which neither introduces police forces reproduce the political and disruptive activities or ideas. Low-ranking social order that those authorising or officers may spend their days in the station, permitting their activities promote (Marenin rather than in the surrounding streets, but 1995), community policing is always directed residents also fail to engage proactively, and Art. 2, page 6 of 16 Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Technology in Hargeisa the attitudes of both are shaped by security would act as a tool for diffusing knowledge. levels, legacy factors, political sensitivities, They wanted to enhance local security while and social norms as well as the resources helping the police direct scarce resources available. to the areas where they were most needed The part played by discretion and (European Union External Action 2015). initiative in such relationships has yet to be The police station of Macalin Haruun investigated but could prove informative was chosen by the MoI on the basis that about attitudes to ICT, especially among it was small and easily monitored and its youths. For now, officers’ use of discretion English-speaking commander would facili- is more evident than their use of initiative. tate communication with EUCAP. It was also Indeed, discretion, or the tempering of strict a showpiece, having been opened by the rules for policy for operational reasons, is United Nations Development Programme not only widely regarded as an essential (UNDP) as a model station in 2012 (UNDP and legitimate element in policing (Findlay 2012); that is, it was a place where police and Zvekić 1993: 21), but also is a feature and community were already expected to of Somaliland’s legally plural society. Most interact (Lum and Fyfe 2015). In the event, crime is managed by customary law (xeer), the project quickly lost momentum. At the rather than state law, and officers routinely time of a visit on 9 December 2015, signs in enlist the support of traditional authorities Somali and English indicated the offices allo- or settle minor incidents informally. cated to, for instance, the commander and Furthermore, and despite anecdotal evidence the women and children’s desk, but the com- of the unwillingness of many officers to pound was cluttered, the radio room from delegate or accept responsibility, Somali which the system is administered was locked, notions of ‘policeness’, of what it means to the most IT-proficient officer (a woman) had be police, require tactical flexibility (Hills been replaced by a less competent man, and 2014b). Entrepreneurial ingenuity drives the front desk’s occurrence book was not many aspects of Somali life and there is up-to-date. no obvious reason why policing provision With the benefit of hindsight it is evident should be exempt from this. For such that the project’s chances of success were reasons, focusing on the use of ICT in a small slim: the imported text-based system was discrete project such as Macalin Haruun’s introduced into an oral culture in which a text alert system is helpful. Its granular detail high percentage of the population is illiterate; helps to avoid sweeping and unrealistic there are no examples of successful call- generalisations about the utility of ICT based crime prevention lines operating in the and liberal ideals of policeness and police- region, let alone text-based ones; and neither community engagement. the MoI nor EUCAP was fully committed to the project which was, moreover, run Rationale for a Text Alert System on a shoestring budget of €8,500. It is Launched by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) difficult to avoid the conclusion that the though originally identified and developed project says more about donor dynamics by two Hargeisa-based EUCAP police advis- and well-intentioned advisers than police- ers, the text alert project was seen as a way to community engagement in Somaliland. prevent crime, target resources and improve Yet the initial assumptions of EUCAP’s police-community engagement in the area of advisers were not unrealistic. Somaliland the city known as New Hargeisa.4 Drawing on has high rates of access to mobiles, tariffs their personal experience of a text alert sys- in its unregulated industry are amongst the tem used in rural Ireland, the advisers devel- lowest in Africa (Budde.com.au 2015), its oped a plan for blending crime reporting and government promotes ICT-based solutions community engagement in which text alerts to the management of criminal records, and Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Art. 2, page 7 of 16 Technology in Hargeisa anecdotal accounts of people’s willingness mobile phones and, critically, EUCAP’s need to ‘tell the government’ (i.e. ring the police) to be seen to act, encouraged its advisers about crime-related issues implied that to believe that a text alert system could be police-community communications were introduced successfully, especially when relatively good. based at a model station such as Macalin Although there are no open-source analyses Haruun. of police-community relations in Hargeisa available, a combination of NGO surveys and Model police stations informal responses from Macalin Haruun One of the strategies donors use to introduce residents suggest additional reasons as to change into police-community relations why EUCAP considered the project plausible. involves building or renovating a police Admittedly, there were reports of officers station according to international design demanding payment for responding to crime principles and operating procedures. Such and stations being used as detention centres stations emphasise service provision, with (Human Rights Centre 2015), but these were designated places for public access, weapons offset by anecdotal evidence of police treating storage, a women and children’s desk, and Macalin Haruun’s residents politely, and separate male and female cells and lavatories. by the generally positive attitudes towards They do not incorporate ICT, but in practice police found elsewhere in Somaliland by the this does not matter because local residents Hargeisa-based Observatory on Conflict and rarely share the objectives promoted in the Violence Prevention (OCVP). OCVP has yet name of such stations (gender equality, to address security perspectives in Hargeisa empowerment and protection for the but its work in towns such as Buroa, 178 vulnerable are cases in point) and this, km to the east of Hargeisa, is suggestive combined with budgetary, organisational and of what might be found.5 Admittedly, political constraints means that the expense OCVP’s reports offer surveys, rather than of such stations is too high to be sustainable, analysis. Also, respondents probably tell its let alone replicable across the country UN-funded researchers what they think the concerned (Independent Commission for Aid UN wants to hear, and allowance must be Impact 2015: 26). made for this. Nevertheless, the resultant This was the fate of the model station picture is probably not misleading: Buroa’s opened by the UNDP in Macalin Haruun in respondents say that the police is, ideally, 2012. Designed to strengthen community their main security provider even if its role participation in policing and ‘fostering is actually supplemented by the activities of partnership’ via community contact groups informal groups such as security committees involving elders, women, youths, NGOs and and night guards (OCVP 2015a: xii, 26). businesses, its 70 officers were deployed to Almost all are aware of the location of ‘provide security services for 30,000 people the town’s police stations and the time in local communities’ (UNDP 2012). Officers it takes to walk to them (this is used as an were to collaborate with communities in order indicator of people’s awareness of state to identify security issues while communities provision), and almost all prefer to report were to support officers in responding to civil disputes and petty and serious crime insecurity. In the event, the project was never to the police rather than to elders. Further, rolled out across Hargeisa and there is no respondents stress that communities should evidence that it achieved its goals. support their under-resourced police by taking responsibility for their own security Mobile phone usage and giving relevant information to the Although there were no significant devel- police (OCVP 2015a: 23). These sentiments, opments in police-community relations combined with the widespread access to in the three years that followed the UNDP Art. 2, page 8 of 16 Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Technology in Hargeisa initiative, access to mobiles increased dra- Although a significant number are unfit6 matically and by 2015 ICT had a marked or, like a high percentage of the population, impact on, for example, money transfers illiterate, most have received a basic intro- and communications between Hargeisa and duction to rights-based policing, the Cairo the diaspora in the US, Scandinavia and EU Declaration on Islam and Human Rights, and member states. Its failure to affect police the Somaliland police charter and constitu- provision is consequently striking, especially tion. Further, the more educated are aware when data from the World Bank and Gallup of international practices and procedures cite cell phone ownership in Somaliland at even as they filter them through local inter- 70%; that is, on a par with Kenya and well ests and dispositions. Indeed, balancing the above the regional median (Gallup 2016; demands and resources of modern and tradi- World Bank 2016). In practice, access is even tional institutions and technologies against higher because mobiles are often shared and the pressures affecting Somali society is a it is possible to subscribe to mobile services key factor in developing legitimate forms of without buying a phone; many people buy police-community engagement (Harris and a pre-paid SIM card, which they use in other Foresti 2011). people’s mobiles (James and Versteeg 2007; Increasingly, the SLPF must also accom- Adam 2010). More significantly, the money modate people’s familiarity with ICT. Many transfer and telecommunications industries officers in Hargeisa have little or no interest have used ICT to bridge the country’s gov- in ICT but it is clear from personal conversa- ernance gap, exploiting mobiles to leap-frog tions with senior officers and recent recruits the limited number of landlines, banks and in December 2015 (most notably in the roads, and there is no obvious technologi- Immigration Police) that some embrace ICT cal reason why ICT could not help to miti- as a tool for addressing issues ranging from gate Hargeisa’s poor-quality police response. street crime and uncontrolled migration to There are, however, functional and cultural combatting groups like al-Shabaab and ISIS reasons. Whether police or residents bear (Interview 2015a). Nonetheless, there is no the primary responsibility for shaping police- evidence to suggest that ICT can address the community engagement is debatable though SLPF’s more immediate challenges of inad- officers’ role as state representatives suggests equate resources and personnel shortages, that their attitudes are key. both of which impact on the low-ranking general duties officers working in districts Somaliland Police Force and the status such as Macalin Haruun. quo Whether police-community engagement Regardless of its technological resources, the is unsatisfactory as far as officers are key organisation involved in operationalis- concerned is arguable. On the one hand, ing the project, the Somaliland Police Force internal displacement from drought- (SLPF), has a chequered history. On the one affected areas has exacerbated the hand, the combination of a predominantly fragmentation of clan cohesiveness formerly Isaaq population (the Isaaq are one of the found in many districts in Hargeisa so main Somali clans), resilient customary police work is less predictable and the law, active civil society, a relatively peaceful notion of clan-based community is less capital city and orderly presidential elec- meaningful. Yet the absence of significant tions has helped to ensure that Somaliland change in officers’ approaches to people has the most developed police system in in the vicinity of Macalin Haruun — and the former Somalia. The number of officers vice versa — over the last two or three years based in Hargeisa is unknown though there suggests that the situation is in some way are approximately 6,800 established officers acceptable or tolerable to both sides even if throughout the country (Hills 2014c: 97). it remains unclear as to whether this due to Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Art. 2, page 9 of 16 Technology in Hargeisa apathy or a lack of engagement rather than Comparable considerations apply to voice- satisfaction with the police. Donors may based systems. argue that officers’ jobs are safer and easier The text alert system is a simple robust when they work in partnership with local system that should easily handle several people, identifying and solving problems thousand messages. The station is open collaboratively and responding to incidents 24-hours, seven days a week, and taking quickly and efficiently, but in practice messages should not be a problem because most officers spend their day in station 16 officers have been trained, with seven compounds because there is no occupational men and seven women covering the three culture of response, let alone of partnership shifts usual in small stations. The system is or service. Admittedly, culture is a blanket basic but reliable, which matters when only concept but it is clear that access to ICT will 1–2% of the population in Somaliland is not change such attitudes. The SLPF has had thought to have an IT connection; it is built no history of engagement with the general on a SIM box with cards that is connected to population since the 1960s and is not yet a laptop computer that creates groups and fully civilianised; there is no culture of sends messages. Actions are logged on police recording or reporting, the reformist police mobiles and in a logbook, keyed into the bill of 2012 is still on the statute book as system manually, and a message is sent over awaiting formal confirmation (Somaliland the computer system (Somaliland Nation Law 2014), and there is no evidence of police News 2016). In theory, this should take — or politicians or inhabitants — looking for about 30 seconds but in reality, the process fundamental change. Overall, low ranking is haphazard, illustrating the obstacles in the officers seem relatively content with the way of exploiting ICT. status quo; their job may be of low status The officer taking the call needs to take but they have uniforms (i.e., free clothes) full details of the complaint or information and while they may not get paid much — or before a more senior officer decides on its regularly — neither do they need to work seriousness and the appropriate response. hard or protect their job against political But not all officers have the necessary key- interference in the way that senior and board skills, senior officers are not always chief officers do. The picture emerging available, the information is lost if the phone suggests that police behaviour conforms to is mislaid and there is a high incidence of local expectations and requirements, and hoax calls. Issues of confidentiality are a ICT plays no part in this. Nevertheless, the potential concern for both the MoI and reasons why the text alert system failed add EUCAP, as is data protection and the ways in depth to the picture. It helps to throw light which information is to be used in the courts. on the nature of police-community relations Also, although the information received and people’s everyday security strategies in sometimes results in police intervention, a relatively safe urban environment. this does not happen systematically. It did not, for example, prompt police to break Why the Text Alert System Failed up a fight at a graveyard on the outskirts of Based on the premise that closer police- Hargeisa early on 8 December even though community engagement is desirable, Macalin a resident had rung to warn the police that Haruun’s text alert system depends on two trouble was imminent (Interview 2015b). elements: the willingness of the public to Explanations for the text alert system’s contact officers via mobile messages and failure include Somaliland’s weak civil society, officers’ willingness to answer the call, log it, the unwillingness of President Silanyo’s verify it as legitimate, and, critically, respond government to encourage community by deploying to the scene. Officers also need engagement, and failure on the part of the the ability and motivation to cascade alerts. Somaliland authorities and EUCAP to provide Art. 2, page 10 of 16 Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Technology in Hargeisa the resources and commitment needed for its districts in which they operate and people success and sustainability. Practical reasons trust them. As a respondent from Macalin for people not using text alerts include the Haruun observed in March 2016, ‘guard lack of an emergency response number (the men’ minimise theft and are sometimes able MoI reserves 100 for crisis calls) and the to return stolen items. But not everyone is complications created by the independence convinced and other respondents argue that of Somaliland’s main telecoms providers, informal providers do not necessarily offer Telecom, Somtel and Nationlink; some better security; they are rag-tag groups with- mobiles are accessed by three or four SIM out formal offices or contact points, which cards. The cost of messages is a consideration, makes them inaccessible, and they cannot too, for while texts are free for officers, who afford to pay for mobiles or transport. Others do not pay for responding to or verifying a are concerned that the groups are managed call, the public must pay. Also, the SIM card by the state for its own purpose or may be used must be pre-paid or in credit. And infiltrated by al-Shabaab or ex-criminals. But legacy issues intrude. The text alert system for most it is an acceptable solution; Macalin is an element within a broad approach to Haruun may be open 24 hours a day but no police-community engagement and can be one expects its officers to respond quickly, described as community policing, but such least of all at night. For now, mobile mes- policing reminds many Somalilanders of sages, verbal and text, play a minimal role in former president Barre’s repressive system of the everyday business of both the SLPF and local councils in the 1970s and 80s in which the city’s neighbourhood watches. community policing was called ‘hamuunta’ or ‘directing the people’ (that is, connecting What local people really think people to the state). Such policing was used The text alert system failed to achieve its to manage groups or clans that Barre saw as a objective of receiving and cascading informa- threat and was linked to the military in terms tion because local people did not use it. The of its monitoring and reporting mechanisms reasons for this have yet to receive systematic and community control methods. attention from EUCAP and the MoI but a par- But the fundamental reason for the failure tial explanation can be deduced from focus of the text alert system and, more impor- groups carried out with a demographically tantly, the low take-up of ICT for communi- and socially representative range of residents cating with the police may be local realities from Macalin Haruun and five neighbouring and preferences. Support for this explanation districts in March 2016.7 comes from the fact that Hargeisa’s infor- A team of ten Somali researchers from mal policing providers like to use mobiles Transparency Solutions, a Hargeisa-based to cascade verbal alerts, but not texts. And development consultancy, each conducted Somali realities mean that some form of 18 interviews over the course of a week, with supplementary community or informal area- two or three interviews completed each day. based security is essential, especially at night, Some of the researchers came from the area, with speed of response the main criteria by which gave them easy access to potential which it is judged. Even residents living near participants, while the inclusion of male and Macalin Haruun’s station value community female researchers meant that the team was groups or neighbourhood watches because able to reach men, women and young peo- they provide security more quickly than ple. Drawing on their experience of working the police. The reasons for this include the in Hargeisa, the team organised discussions groups being integral parts of their commu- with 180 volunteers from six districts around nities in a way that police are not; the youths, Macalin Haruun station. Fifty were inter- women, elders and businessmen contribut- viewed in Macalin Haruun, 28 in Mahmid ing to the groups are known throughout the Haibe, 28 in Ahmed Dhagah (a separate Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Art. 2, page 11 of 16 Technology in Hargeisa enclave that became anti-government in the gap between what is possible and what the aftermath of shootings in 2012), 28 in actually happens. When asked how the use 26-June on the other side of the main road to of mobiles might improve security, 167 Macalin Haruun, 25 in Ibraahim Koodbuur, a of those questioned agreed that mobiles district containing a well-known IDP camp, allowed for information to be spread quickly and 21 in Ga’an Libah. Of the 180 respond- and police to call for back-up from units ents, 96 (53.3 per cent) were male and 84 away from the station, but none referred to (46.6 per cent) female. Eighty-two (45.5 per ICT unprompted. ICT plays little if any part cent) were married, 81 (45 per cent) single, in their expectations or preferred form of eight (4.4 per cent) divorced and seven (3.8 policing. per cent) widowed (the status of the remain- Everyone is aware of the police’s ing respondents was unknown). Twenty nine inadequate resources and flaws, and the (16.1 per cent) were educated at madrassa, implications of this were explored by 13 (7.2 per cent) were educated to primary asking how they would like to see the school level, 25 (14 per cent) to intermediate SLPF develop and what kind of police they level and 43 (24 per cent) attended second- would like their children to meet. Most (91) ary school, while 31 (17.2 per cent) were edu- thought in terms of resources, stating that cated at tertiary level and 11 (6.1 per cent) police should get more financial support, were self schooled. Twenty-three (12.7 per equipment and stations; 45 argued in favour cent) were illiterate. of an improvement in officers’ status in the Respondents were asked if they had con- community while 56 hope to see police reach tacted the police and, if so, where, when and the standards seen in developed countries. why. Those who had were asked if they had Respondents in Macalin Haruun said police used mobiles, how they had been treated, would respond to crime more quickly and and whether they would contact the police effectively if they received more equipment in future. Ninety said that they had contacted (21), a salary increase (13), education (five), the police in the year before the text alert better treatment within the police (two), system was introduced, and 25 in the period stopped chewing the mild narcotic qat (two), since. But it is not clear why they contacted and followed the law properly (three). But no the police because 160 said that they did not one mentioned toll-free lines for text alerts, report a crime. Although 140 said that the crime prevention or rape, though 28 stressed police treated them politely (25 said they did the desirability of a direct contact line for not), 174 said that they would go back to the emergencies and improved communications police, with nine answering ‘maybe’. tools more generally. The ideal for all When asked how people normally respondents, and what they hoped their communicate with the police, two-thirds children would encounter, is honest police of those questioned said that the youths, who perform their tasks quickly and do not women, elders and businessmen involved harm civilians. in community-based groups visit their The foundation of police-community local station, which is the recognised site relations was addressed using questions for engagement. They prefer to speak to about police work and whether other officers face-to-face because only then can groups provide security more quickly. All they develop or reinforce the personal respondents agreed that the police’s job relationship needed for an officer to includes securing peace and stability, from respond. Significantly, 35 said that they had the village to national level, and providing rung their local station using a mobile but a quick respond when insecurity threatens. the police had failed to respond to their calls. Significantly, almost all respondents said No one used the text alert system. Overall, that local people should help the police to respondents appear surprisingly tolerant of do their jobs more effectively though none Art. 2, page 12 of 16 Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Technology in Hargeisa explained how this might be achieved. But are satisfied with the police and wish to an idea of what the police’s role is thought support officers in their job, arranging their to involve is evident from the explanations lives to accommodate the police’s limited given by a self-selecting group of 18 resources and reactive role. Most recognise — respondents from across the six districts. and use — the station as their preferred site Nine described the police as a tool for for engagement, with many having visited punishing criminals and ‘the guilty’, five a station in the preceding year even if few emphasised the police’s responsibility for used their visit to report crime. Indeed, few ensuring rights and property, while two said claimed to report crime to police, with elders the police exists solely to hurt, arrest and playing a mediating role between the two. restrain people. Two said that they were not With the exception of low-key collaborative aware of what police do. efforts to ensure that some form of night- Perhaps the most surprising result came time policing is available, neither residents in response to questions about the text nor police seek to change current patterns alert project. When asked, only five of the of engagement; neither regards ICT as 142 respondents involved in the discussion necessary or especially desirable. In other had heard of the project, even though 47 words, the ways in which residents respond (38 per cent) had friends or relatives in the to police helps to reproduce the current police and 74 (51 per cent) had been to relationship. Macalin Haruun station. The reasons for this are unclear, not least because the project’s Conclusions launch in August 2016 was marked by a high- Macalin Haruun’s experience of the text profile ministerial visit and multiple TV and alert system offers insight into the potential news reports, but it probably owes much to connection between ICT and police- the filtering effects of local preferences and community engagement. It illustrates the Somalilanders’ experience of governance and everyday choices shaping low-level policing state-society relations. People with access to in one of Hargeisa’s safer districts while mobiles or SIM cards are comfortable ringing showing how local norms and preferences the police, especially when they have been can negate the availability of a globalised the victim of robbers or wish to ‘tell the technology. People may have access to government’ about a potential incident (the mobiles but they choose not to send text commonly used phrase is telling), but they alert messages even though officers have do not use text messaging. This may reflect (in theory) the manpower, mobiles, radios, literacy levels, the strength of oral culture vehicles and training needed to respond or distrust of the Silanyo government’s to day-time calls. Meanwhile the SLPF’s security forces, or it may be no more than an response to both ICT and community acknowledgement of the police’s inability to engagement is casual. In December 2015, respond quickly. one senior officer said that the system Macalin Haruun’s value here is that it offers worked well in New Hargeisa though not insights into the everyday choices shaping necessarily elsewhere in the city, whereas his low-level policing in one of Hargeisa’s more colleague said that the text alert system did secure districts. The composition of the not work anywhere because people did not focus groups also provides a snapshot of understand it (Interview 2015b). the social environment in which the SLPF The reasons for this are debatable, but conducts its business, representing a cross- education and publicity campaigns are section of the age, education and marital unlikely to make a significant difference to status of residents found in the district and the assessment of either the SLPF or residents surrounding neighbourhoods. Most people because officers already have the knowledge Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Art. 2, page 13 of 16 Technology in Hargeisa and skills needed to fulfil societal expectations 4 This section is based on informal regarding the management of low-level discussions and correspondence with insecurity while residents’ responses help EUCAP advisers, Hargeisa and the UK, to reproduce the police behaviour so often March 2014-March 2016. criticised. In all cases, police stations remain 5 Hargeisa’s population is thought to be the preferred site for engagement with one- 750,000 whereas Burao’s was 288,500 in to-one communication between officers and 2005. The difference size makes to police residents more important than democratic- provision is unclear because residents style community policing. Furthermore, focus on the district in which they live, community policing is thought to require rather than on the town as a whole. communities to take responsibility for their 6 Compare the situation in Borama, own security and, when necessary, use the Somaliland’s second city, where the police as a channel for conveying information police commissioner said that that to ‘the government’; it has little to do with ill-health and ‘advanced age’ meant joint problem solving. As ever, senior officers that only 47 of the 104 police officers ask donors for more advice, training and registered in the central police station equipment in order to improve engagement were fit to undertake duties (OCVP but then fail to use what they have, while 2015b: xi). Although residents preferred the exploitation of even basic technology to report civil, petty and criminal cases may prove too challenging for Macalin to the police, relations between police Haruun’s barely educated police, most of and community were an area of concern. whom are unfamiliar with either keyboard The commissioner referred to residents skills or displaying initiative. At the same preventing officers from making arrests. time Hargeisa’s oral society ignores the MoI’s 7 This section is based on focus groups publicity campaigns, preferring to report conducted on my behalf by Transparency issues to the police verbally (by mobiles if Solution’s Amel Saeed and Mohammed necessary) or on paper; high access to mobiles Yusuf. does not necessarily improve communications — or mutual trust — between police and Acknowledgements residents. In Hargeisa at least, ICT has little or This work was supported by the European no impact on police-community engagement. Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme under grant reference 653909. I am Notes indebted to senior officers and officials from 1 The Somali Women Development Centre Somaliland’s Ministry of Interior and police, (SWDC) does not provide statistics but and, most importantly, EUCAP-Nestor, whose the two experienced volunteers running support made this research possible. Special its 24/7 crisis line receive a steady stream thanks are due to Transparency Solutions for of calls from women subject to violence research assistance in Hargeisa. The views or abuse. More importantly, SWDC then offered are nonetheless mine alone. responds, helping women to navigate through the various services available, Competing Interests escorting them to clinics, advertising for The author has no competing interests to lost children and the like (Interview 2016b). declare. 2 For example, see Mali’s crisis line for sexually-based violence (Triquet and References Serrano 2015: 57). Adam, L 2010 Ethiopia ICT Sector 3 Contrast the situation found in Performance Review 2009/2010. Francophone Niger (Göpfert 2013). Research net ICT. Available at: http:// Art. 2, page 14 of 16 Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Technology in Hargeisa

www.researchictafrica.net/publications/ Cooper-Knock, S J and Owen, O 2015 Policy_Paper_Series_Towards_Evidence- Between vigilantism and bureaucracy: based_ICT_Policy_and_Regulation_-_ Improving our understanding of police Volume_2/Vol%202%20Paper%20 work in Nigeria and South Africa. 9%20-%20Ethiopia%20ICT%20 Theoretical Criminology, 19(3): 355–75. Sector%20Performance%20Review%20 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13624806 2010.pdf [Last accessed 28 April 2017]. 14557306 Albrecht, P and Kyed, H M 2011 Introduction. Denney, L 2015 Securing communities? In: Albrecht, P et al (ed.). Perspectives on Redefining community policing to Involving Non-State and Customary Actors achieve results. London: ODI. Available in Justice and Security Reform. Copenhagen: at: http://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/ DIIS and IDLO. pp. 3–22. Available at: http:// files/odi-assets/publications-opinion- reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/ files/9582.pdf [Last accessed 28 April resources/IDLO_Book.pdf [Last accessed 2017]. 28 April 2017]. Denney, L and Domingo, P 2015 Future Avergerou, C 2010 Discourses on ICT and directions of security and justice: Context- development. Information Technologies relevant, flexible and transitional and International Development, 6(3): programming? London: ODI. Available at: 1–18. https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/ Bagayoko, N, Hutchful, E and Luckham, R files/odi-assets/publications-opinion- 2016 Hybrid security governance in Africa: files/10222.pdf [Last accessed 18 April rethinking the foundations of security, 2017]. justice and legitimate public authority. De Waal, A 2015 The Real Politics of the Horn Conflict, Security & Development, 16(1): of Africa: Money, War and the Business of 1–32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/146 Power. London: Polity. 78802.2016.1136137 DFID 2007 ICT for development (ICT4D): Banks, K 2013 Reflections on a decade Research and capacity development of mobiles in development. Stability: programme. International Journal of Security & European Union External Action 2015 Development, 2(3). Text Alert Community Police Engagement Beek, J 2016 Producing Stateness: Police Work Programme launched in Somaliland, 19 in Ghana. Leiden: Brill. August. Available at: https://www.eucap- Biecker, S and Schlichte, K 2014 Between nestor.eu/en/press_office/news/1306/ Governance and Domination — The [Last accessed 28 April 2017]. Everyday Life of Uganda’s Police Forces. Findlay, M and Zvekić, U (eds.) 1993 In: Koechlin, L and Förster, T (eds.). The Alternative policing styles: Cross-cultural Politics of Governance. The State in Africa perspectives. Deventer: Kluwer. Reconsidered. London: Routledge Taylor Gallup 2016 Disparities in Cellphone & Francis. pp. 93–112. Ownership Pose Challenges in Africa, Brogden, M and Nijhar, P 2005 Community 17 Feb. Available at: http://www.gallup. policing: National and international mod- com/poll/189269/disparities-cellphone- els and approaches. London: Routledge. ownership-pose-challenges-africa.aspx Budde 2015 Somalia – Telecoms, Mobile [Last accessed 28 April 2017]. and Broadband – Statistics and Analyses. Göpfert, M 2013 Bureaucratic aesthetics: Available at: http://www.budde.com.au/ Report writing in the Nigérien Research/Somalia-Telecoms-Mobile-and- gendarmerie. American Ethnologist, 40(2): Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses.html 324–34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ [Last accessed 28 April 2017]. amet.12024 Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Art. 2, page 15 of 16 Technology in Hargeisa

Harris, D and Foresti, M 2011 Somaliland’s Lindberg, D 2011 Building Police Commu- progress on governance: A case of blending nity Partnerships: A Review of the Lit- the old and the new. London: ODI. erature. Available at: http://pdxscholar. Hills, A 2014a Partnership policing: Is it library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent. relevant in Kano? Criminology & Criminal cgi?article=1005&context=ccj_capstone Justice, 14(1): 8–24. DOI: https://doi. [Last accessed 28 April 2017]. org/10.1177/1748895812454860 Lum, C and Nicholas, F 2015 Space, place, Hills, A 2014b What is policeness? On being and policing: Exploring geographies police in Somalia. British Journal of of research and Practice. Policing, 9(3). Criminology, 54(5): 765–83. DOI: https:// special issue. doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azu049 Marenin, O 1995 Policing change, changing Hills, A 2014c Somalia works: Police police: Some thematic questions. In: development as state-building. African Marenin (ed.). Policing Change, Changing Affairs, 113(450): 88–107. DOI: https:// Police: International Perspectives. London: doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adt068 Routledge. pp. 2–22. Hills, A 2016a Off-road policing: Commu- National Police Service (NPS) 2016 Strategic nications technology and government plan 2013–2018. Available at: http:// authority in Somaliland. International www.nationalpolice.go.ke/national- Affairs, 92(5): 1061–1078. DOI: https:// police-service-strategic-plan.html [Last doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.12701 accessed 28 April 2017]. Hönke, J and Mu``ller, M 2016 The Global Observatory on Conflict and Violence Making of Policing: Postcolonial Prevention (OCVP) 2015a Buroa: Perspectives. London: Routledge. District Conflict and Security Assessment. Human Rights Centre 2015 Human Hargeisa: OCVP. Available at: http://ocvp. Rights Centre: Annual Review 2015. org/docs/2015/Wave4/Burao%20-%20 Hargeisa: HRC. Available at: http://www. DCSA%20Report%20-%202015.pdf [Last hrcsomaliland.org/downloads/HRC- accessed 28 April 2017]. report-2015.pdf [Last accessed 28 April OCVP 2015b Borama: District Conflict and 2017]. Security Assessment. Hargeisa: OCVP. Independent Commission for Aid Impact Available at: http://ocvp.org/docs/2015/ 2015 Review of UK development assis- Wave7/Borama%20DCSA%202015.pdf tance for security and justice. London: [Last accessed 28 April 2017]. ICAI. OECD DAC 2007 Handbook on security sector Independent Policing Oversight Authority reform: Supporting security and justice. (IPOA) 2017 Complaints form. Available Paris: OECD. at: http://www.ipoa.go.ke/complaints- O’Kane, D and Hepner, T R (eds.) 2011 form/ [Last accessed 28 April 2017]. Biopolitics, militarism and development: Interview 2015a Senior officers, Hargeisa, Eritrea in the twenty-first century. Oxford: 11 December. Berghaan. Interview 2015b Senior officer, Hargeisa, Olivier de Sardan, J 2005 Anthropology and 8 December. development: Understanding contempo- Interview 2016b SWDC representative, rary social change. London: Zed. Mogadishu, 27 July. Omanga, D 2015 ‘Chieftaincy’ in the social James, J and Versteeg, M 2007 Mobile media space: Community policing in phones in Africa: How much do we really a twitter convened baraza. Stability: know? Social Indicators Research, 84(1): International Journal of Security & 117–26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/ Development, 4(1). DOI: https://doi. s11205-006-9079-x org/10.5334/sta.eq Art. 2, page 16 of 16 Hills: Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Technology in Hargeisa

Schomerus, M and Rigterink, A 2015 ‘And UNDP 2012 Somaliland opens first then he switched off the phone’: Mobile ‘model police station’, undated. Avail- phones, participation and political able at: http://www.so.undp.org/ accountability in South Sudan’s western content/somalia/en/home/ourwork/ Equatoria State. Stability: International crisispreventionandrecovery/successs- Journal of Security & Development, 4(1). tories/Somaliland.html [Last accessed DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/sta.ew 28 April 2017]. Somaliland Law 2014 Police law: Wikimapia 2014 New Hargeisa district. Avail- Somaliland law. Available at: http://www. able at: http://wikimapia.org/9496471/ somalilandlaw.com/police_law_.html New-Hargeisa-District#/photo/3740543; [Last accessed 28 April 2017]. http://wikimapia.org/9496471/New- Somaliland Nation News 2016 Two officers Hargeisa-District#/photo/3740545; from the EU Civilian Conduct and Planning http://wikimapia.org/9496471/New- (CPCC) visited EUCAP Nestor activities Hargeisa-District#/photo/3740550 [Last in Somalia/Somaliland, 12–18 January. accessed 28 April 2017]. Available at: http://www.slnnews.com/ Wiuff Moe, L and Müller, M 2016 Reconfig- 2016/01/somaliland-two-officers-from- uring intervention complexity, resilience the-eu-civilian-planning-and-conduct- and the ‘local turn’ in counterinsurgent capability-cpcc-visited-eucap-nestor- warfare. London: Palgrave Macmillan. activities-in-somaliasomaliland/ [Last World Bank 2011 Sustainable development: accessed 28 April 2017]. Embracing the developmental power of Sunshine, J and Tyler, T 2003 The role of ICT. Available at: http://web.worldbank. procedural justice and legitimacy in shaping org/external/default/main?menuPK= public support for policing. Law and Society 6454478&theSitePK=5929282&piPK= Review, 37(3): 555–89. DOI: https://doi. 64911825&pagePK=7278674&content org/10.1111/1540-5893.3703002 MDK=22839789 [Last accessed 28 April Tankebe, J 2009 Public cooperation with 2017]. the police in Ghana: Does procedural World Bank 2016 Information & communi- fairness matter? Criminology, 47(4): cation technologies. Available at: http:// 1265–1293. DOI: https://doi.org/ www.worldbank.org/en/topic/ict/over- 10.1111/j.1745-9125.2009.00175.x view#1 [Last accessed 28 April 2017].

How to cite this article: Hills, A 2017 Is There Anybody There? Police, Communities and Communications Technology in Hargeisa. Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 6(1): 6, pp. 1–16, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/sta.491

Submitted: 08 September 2016 Accepted: 02 May 2017 Published: 29 June 2017

Copyright: © 2017 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Stability: International Journal of Security & Development is a OPEN ACCESS peer-reviewed open access journal published by Ubiquity Press.