POLICY GUIDANCE ON SUPPORT TO POLICING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Ian Clegg, Robert Hunt and Jim Whetton November 2000 Centre for Development Studies University of Wales, Swansea Swansea SA2 8PP [email protected] http://www.swansea.ac.uk/cds ISBN 0 906250 617 Policy Guidance on Support to Policing in Developing Countries ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful for the support of the Department for International Development, (DFID), London, who funded this work for the benefit of developing/ transitional countries. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily of DFID. It was initially submitted to DFID in November 1999 as a contribution to their policy deliberations on Safety, Security and Accessible Justice. It is now being published more widely in order to make it available to countries and agencies wishing to strengthen programmes in this field. At the same time, DFID are publishing their general policy statement on SSAJ, (DFID, 2000). Our work contributes to the background material for that statement. We are also most grateful to the authors of the specially commissioned papers included as Annexes to this report, and to the police advisers and technical cooperation officers who contributed to the survey reported in Annex B. It will be obvious in the text how much we are indebted to them all. This report is the joint responsibility of the three authors. However, Ian Clegg and Jim Whetton of CDS, University of Wales, Swansea, would like to express personal thanks to co-author Robert Hunt, OBE, QPM, former Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, London, for contributing his immense practical experience of policing and for analysing the survey reported in Annex B. Ian Clegg November 2000 Policy Guidance on Support to Policing in Developing Countries POLICY GUIDANCE ON SUPPORT TO POLICING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Number SECTION I: INTRODUCTION 1 SECTION II: KEY CONCEPTS AND POLICY ISSUES 3 1. Why should DFID be involved in policing projects ? 3 2. What is the impact of insecurity, crime, violence and denial of rights on the poor and vulnerable ? 3 3. When should DFID become involved in supporting policing projects ? 7 4. What kinds of policing project should DFID support ? 8 SECTION III: TECHNICAL GUIDANCE ON GOOD PRACTICE 10 1. Introduction 10 2. Gaining Commitment 11 3. Accountability 13 4. Policing and Rights 17 5. Policing and Gender-Based Discrimination 23 6. Children and the Police 30 7. Suspects, Remand Prisoners and Victims 38 8. Policing with the Community 40 9. Community Safety and Crime Prevention 49 10. Public and Private Policing 54 11. Conclusions 61 Bibliography 64 ANNEXES A. Terms of Reference 68 B. Providing Technical Advisory Services and Training 70 C. Eric Pelser An Overview of Community Policing in South Africa 102 D. Trevor Jones and Mike Maguire Policing of Marginalised Populations 122 E. Andrew Dunn Children and the Police 145 F. Graham Farrell and Ken Pease Note on Crime Prevention in Developing Countries 161 G. Tess Newton Assisting the Development of Policing in the Pacific Island Region 171 H. Report of the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland Section 7 :'Policing with the Community' 183 Policy Guidance on Support to Policing in Developing Countries POLICY GUIDANCE ON SUPPORT TO POLICING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES I INTRODUCTION The purpose of this work is to provide policy and technical guidance on assistance to building effective and democratic police services in developing countries, in support of DFID's wider policy goals of the achievement of safety, security, access to justice and the reduction of poverty. As our synthesis evaluation of UK aid to the police shows, policing projects during the 1990s moved away from the early emphasis on improving training, while neglecting a longer term, strategic vision. (Biddle, Clegg and Whetton, 1999). More recent projects have emphasised institutional development and aimed at more accountable and sustainable police services. The acid test of a good police service in the future is likely to be that it is responsive to the needs of all sectors of the community, especially the poor and disadvantaged. In order to achieve this, it needs to be based on a range of partnerships between the state police1, other public and private sector agencies, NGOs and CBOs, including citizens from all social groups. As is stressed in Part III below, Technical Guidance on Good Practice, improved efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability, though long-term institutional development of state police services, remains an important basis for strengthening the safety and security of all citizens. Some detailed guidance on this is included in Annex B. Selected topics are given prominence in Part III, however, because they are likely to contribute especially to protection of the interests of most vulnerable groups. These are: • Gaining widespread commitment to policing focused on the interests of the most vulnerable • Means of increasing accountability • Strengthening recognition of human rights, including those of women, children, prisoners and suspects • Policing with the community • Community safety and crime prevention • Relationships between public and private policing, including traditional justice systems. As a starting point for addressing these questions, we carried out a small survey to tap the experience of TCOs and consultants who have worked on recent policing projects. This proved to be very creative and the findings are analysed in Annex B. In addition we commissioned a small number of specialist reviews, which are also annexed. Two of these need special comment: Annex D on Policing of Marginalised Populations, and Annex E on Community Safety and Crime Prevention. Both focus especially on UK and US experience, because work on these topics in developing countries is not 1 The terms ‘state’ or ‘public’ police are used in this report to denote those police forces/services which are controlled by and accountable to either national government or devolved sub-national governmental authorities. See Part III, Section 10 for greater amplification of this. 1 Policy Guidance on Support to Policing in Developing Countries available. In addition, however, it is suggested that much of the practical UK/US experience on these difficult and important issues is very relevant for such countries. For the same reason we have also drawn quite heavily on the recently completed report of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, (Patten et al, 1999), part of which is included as Annex G. Its excellent, very practical analysis of ways of policing a divided society also contains valuable lessons for policing in developing countries. In summary, the first conclusion of this report is that DFID's focus on support to policing which emphasises the interests of the poor and vulnerable is both feasible and necessary, especially given that policing is so often driven by very different interests from those of the poor. The main key to strengthening such policing is to ensure that it is carried out through a variety of partnerships between a state police service, other government and non-government agencies, and citizens. It is essential that the state police are centrally involved in such partnerships and, without dominating them, feel supported rather than threatened by them. This is seen as a way of breaking down the isolation of the police, which is recognised in both developed and developing countries as a major source of problems. Special partnerships are those between the state police service and other agencies of the criminal justice system, both formal and informal. All too often, co-operation falls below the desirable level; the police are not consulted when court and correctional issues are being considered, while the police do not involve others in what they see as purely policing matters. In this report we have emphasised that the police are an integral part of the criminal justice system as a whole, and the boundaries of the report are at the points where the police interface with others. Finally, it is important to emphasise that there is no universal formula of good policing. It is, however, possible to identify a range of principles and criteria which DFID could promote, together with repertoires of practices which have been found helpful in one place or another. It is also possible to identify pitfalls which have blocked or hindered good practice. Beyond that, it is necessary to recognise that the application of principles may vary considerably from country to country, from culture to culture, between national regions and between urban and rural areas. 2 Policy Guidance on Support to Policing in Developing Countries II. KEY CONCEPTS AND POLICY ISSUES 1. Why should DFID be involved in policing projects ? There has been a long-standing debate on whether DFID should be involved in policing projects. Our suggested conclusion is that it should continue to be involved, but in new kinds of project, summarised briefly above, which emphasise the interests of the poor and vulnerable. Other UK government agencies, as well as other governments and international agencies, will also continue to provide support to police in developing countries. Political realities are such that this aid is not always likely to take account of the interests of the poor and vulnerable. DFID's role would be to encourage the creation and dissemination of a form of policing which assists in the achievement of its own development objectives in terms of protection of rights and SSAJ. The reason for remaining involved is more fundamental than this. It is that good policing is an essential component of good government. To reinforce this point, it is useful to examine briefly some data on the key role which state police forces play in criminal justice systems in developing countries. The first point to make is that large numbers of citizens have almost daily contact with the police, many of them directly as either victims or suspected offenders or associates of these.