Challenges of Community Policing Practice in Preserving Civil Rights of Individuals: The Case of Addis Ketema Sub City
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Date
2018-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Taking the current state of development of the country, it is believed that the Police cannot successfully prevent crime and protect human rights unless it deserves the support from the public. Understanding this limitation, Addis Ababa Police Commission, the seat of the Federal government, designed different strategies to improve the police service. Among these strategies, community policing has been a leading police service to evenly enhance the police and community relations. The primary objective of this study is to reveal out the challenges and practices of community policing in preserving civil rights of individuals in Addis Ketema Sub-City. The study is qualitative by design. Participants of the study were selected using purposive sampling technique. Of which, 12 community policing officers, 15 local communities, two FGDs comprising 8 people in each groups and 4 key informants have been involved as informants. The selection was made through inclusion criteria to find the informants who are close to the study undertaken. Data were gathered using interview, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and observation and analyzed thematically. The findings of the study revealed that lack of training on community policing officers on the concepts of community policing vis-à-vis protection of human rights, the lesser priority given to human right protection as compared to crime prevention. Moreover, denial of access to justice, the rights to privacy and liberty are the major challenges of community policing in preserving civil rights of individuals. The findings of the study indicate that different organizations and the government itself should think about the way how civil rights of individuals will be ensured through community policing. It also brings into the attention of police chiefs, researchers and practitioners to think of the implementation of community policing to rest on mutual trust between the police and the community at large.
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Keywords
Community, policing, community policing, Civil Rights