Reports urge mindset shift, collaboration for effective community policing in Kenya

Police officers will be required to change their mindset and adopt a collaborative approach to policing for the National Police Service-led Community Policing to thrive.

This is the mutual finding of two state reports dubbed "Impact of Community Policing in Kenya" by the National Crime Research Centre (NCRC) and "Advancing Ethical and People-Centred Policing in Kenya: Lessons Learnt, Best Practices, Challenges, and Strategic Recommendations" by MIDRIFT Human Rights Network, which were officially launched on Thursday in Nairobi.

Joseph Omondi, the Executive Director at MIDRIFT Human Rights Network, said their report stems from the organisations five-year collaborative work with the police across 19 police stations in seven counties of Nairobi, Nakuru, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Uasin Gishu, Baringo and Kisumu while Vincent Opondo, the Assistant Director of Research at the NCRC said the centre assessed the impact of the NPS-led Community Policing in select 11 counties of Nairobi, Mombasa, Machakos, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Uasin Gishu, Bungoma, Garissa, Turkana, and Isiolo counties where community policing programmes have been and are being implemented.

The NCRC report found that while years of community policing have led to enhanced cooperation between the police and the community, in the form of increased information sharing, involvement of community in prioritization of their security needs, enhanced openness in the activities of the police and involvement of community in addressing crime risk factors in their neighborhood; community policing initiatives and activities have not fully influenced public trust in the police positively.

"From the findings, 50 per cent of the respondents said community policing had not influenced their trust in the police, 33 per cent said it had increased their trust in the police, while 17 per cent said it had reduced their trust in the police," the report states pointing to long-standing systemic, historical and deep-seated structural issues in the NPS that continue to negatively shape public experience, perceptions and opinion about the police.

Opondo further noted that the implementation of the community policing strategy alongside the Nyumba Kumi initiative created a policy implementation overlap that led to duplication of efforts.

"The National Police Service –Community Policing has since integrated Nyumba Kumi as a strategy, but this information is not out there with members of the public. Many members of the public still view Nyumba Kumi as separate and distinct from the National Police Service-Community Policing," explained Opondo.

He further said that the report also found challenges around rogue police officers who are tainting the name of the NPS.

"The report has made several recommendations, among them recommending a cross-sectoral and multi-agency approach to address the issues identified in the report," he added.

Community policing was first introduced in the country in 2005 by former President Mwai Kibaki, following the realisation that the NPS as an agency is not the sole custodian of national security.

It sought to partner with Kenyans through clusters like the Nyumba Kumi, human rights organisations, religious organisations, media, private sector, learning institutions, youth, and women to facilitate trust between the general public and the police.

However, over time, community policing lacked clear pathways for its implementation, but MIDRIFT's close collaboration with 19 stations across the seven counties of Nairobi, Nakuru, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kisumu, Uasin Gishu, Baringo and West Pokot in efforts towards its implementation has borne some fruits.

The collaboration featured police accountability forums during which officials from other agencies, like the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), were engaged.

"We have been able to conclude that accountability is not punishment but a form of good governance," said Opondo.

The collaboration, he added, yielded in terms of improved service delivery and a reduction in the trust gap between members of the public and the police.

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Gender desks were also introduced in the stations, leading to survivor-focused service delivery that also prompted more related cases reporting.

Omondi said that the collaboration further exhibited positive changes in terms of police changing their mindset and working with the communities to advance the community policing agenda.

He, however, noted that some challenges were always there.

"There are challenges that are systemic that we are going to work together with stakeholders to address and they have been captured in the report but in summary, there are weak accountability platforms at the station level, some rogue officers continuously being corrupt which is a very big challenge and the mental well-being of police officers remains a challenge and therefore there were high recommendations of taking care of police officers so that they can do the policing with the right mindset and also their mental wellbeing being taken care of," he said.

There was a persistent challenge of the police being viewed by members of the public as perpetrators rather than protectors, and the emerging challenge of officers getting entangled with goons.

MIDRIFT intends to implement the recommendations in collaboration with state and non-state actors.