Community Policing for Violence Prevention in Pakistan: A Critical Review of Evidence and Future Directions (original) (raw)
Related papers
Journal of Human Security, 2019
Community-police relations in Pakistan are often intricate, as are their reforms. Mistrust, political intervention, meager financial resources, lack of educated/trained human resources, over-expectations and miscommunication are some of the factors contributing to weak policing and poor community-police relations. The police as a service-oriented public institution has been a demand of the public and the dream of consecutive governments. In this study, we explore the political, institutional and technical reforms taken by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the police department to improve their police and policing. The Police Act 2017 and Community-Oriented Policing, Dispute Resolution Councils (DRCs), and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) initiatives are critically analyzed in terms of their intentions and contribution to improved police-community relations. Politicians, police, civil society organizations and community members from KP were interviewed for their perceptions of police reforms and community-police relations. The study finds strong political will to empower and depoliticize police, and to shift its focus from purely crime fighting into community service provision, including pro-active engagement of police with the community. The study also finds that most of the new initiatives of the government of KP are in the spirit of community-oriented policing, and community members see visible improvement in policing and community-police relations.
Handbook on community policing
CPDI has been engaged in advocating and supporting community policing in Pakistan for over a decade. Based upon our experience of conducting training programmes and research studies on community policing, we can say with confidence that there are two major hurdles in implementing community policing in the country. First is the lack of analysis into the already undertaken initiatives to find their positive aspects and shortcomings. Second is the absence of any indigenously produced guidance manual that lays down the implementation framework by reflecting upon the country dynamics and situation on ground. CPDI recognizes that community policing is a complete philosophy and that moulding it into a concrete programme is a complex task. The conversion of community policing philosophy into programmes at different places requires different strategies as goals to be achieved for each locality are different and police needs to tackle unique challenges in each area, which makes the process ever the more difficult. However, based upon our experience and after a careful scrutiny of the pros and cons of various community policing programmes implemented in Pakistan, a flexible guidance framework of community policing is presented here to enable ease of understanding and implementation. This handbook is developed as a simplified practical guide for those police officials who are interested in understanding and implementing community policing in their respective geographical precincts. The handbook is also intended to be of interest for civil society and citizens of Pakistan who want to see policing evolve into a public friendly and citizen responsive service and who want to learn about the ways and means through which community policing can be implemented to proactively address root cause of problems in the society. Although, the information presented in the handbook would be equally beneficial for citizens, public and all police officials, however, the handbook is designed keeping the District Police Officers (DPOs) specifically in focus. The reason to keep the DPOs as the focal point is because we believe that the district is a practical unit from which community policing efforts can be initiated and for that reason DPOs are the right audience - due to their decision making authority and autonomy to advance community policing in their respective districts. Moreover, once successful models and case studies of community policing start emerging at the district level, other DPOs are likely to be inspired and follow course. In this manner, community policing would spread like an algae, wherein successful models and practices would be replicated across districts and concrete results of the initiative would act as the driver of the movement in Pakistan.
Policing the Global South: Colonial Legacies, Pluralities, Partnerships, and Reform, 2022
Trust-building is the bedrock of successful policing. This has particular relevance in postcolonial states where the relationships between the public and the police are fraught with tensions due to the authoritarian state and the social structures. In such societies, the long-standing repressive laws and the misuse and abuse of police authority has engendered fear, animosity, and a lack of cooperation with the police. Traditionally, building and sustaining institutional trust is critical to maintaining public cooperation, and improving police performance in tackling crime and disorder. However, in countries such as Pakistan where society is deeply divided across religious, sectarian, and ethnic lines, building interpersonal trust between the public and authority is as fundamental as establishing trustworthy police institutions. This chapter provides an insight into how the different tactics and strategies of community policing are employed by the Pakistani police forces in building and sustaining institutional and interpersonal trust. An in-depth examination of community policing reveals the importance of building competence, beneficence, and impartiality in police procedures to maintain trustworthiness at the institutional and community levels. While the existing strategies focus on competence, there is a dire need to develop programmes to encourage beneficence and impartiality in policing.
Examining community participation in crime prevention in rural Peshawar, Pakistan
Rural Society - Routledge (Taylor and Francis Group), 2022
Lower crime rates in rural areas of the world are often taken as a sign that crime is not a major concern in these areas. However, rural crime undermines sustainable development to a large extent. This research presents an empirical examination of the prospects of community policing in crime prevention in rural Peshawar, Pakistan as little is known about its effectiveness. A cross-sectional survey is conducted to gather quantitative data by interviewing a sample of the community residents in Palosi and Regi neighbourhoods. Results of logistic regression indicate that overall community participation is an effective strategy in preventing crime in the study area indicating a chi-square significance of <0.05, but police are not successful in developing trust in the communities. It is suggested that police have to render quality services including information and communication technologies that largely contribute to the rapid transfer of information and knowledge and crime control.
Police Violence in Pakistan: Forms and Justifications
Police force is regarded as one of the most important internal security forces given a mission to monitor law and order situation in the country and curb any sort of violent or criminal activities. The term "Police Violence" it-self sounds awkward and contradictory, but it refers to a situation where allegedly this law enforcing agency is involved in violating rights of the public and is involved in some sort of misuse or over use of its powers, hence troubling the general public in one way or the other. This qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews with different stakeholders (including the Police force it-self) identified by the researchers and tries to integrate their responses and explore different forms of such alleged violence and importantly investigate potential circumstances where this over use of power is justified or is given protection. Different stakeholders have different opinion on the subject under study.
Counter Terrorism Police in Pakistan and Role of Police: A Way Forward
Countering terrorism is an essential national strategy. Pakistan, is making long term counter terrorism policies .This present research focuses on the role of police regarding this issue by raising some questions. What are the perceptions of public about police legitimacy, police performance, procedural justice and distributive justice? What are the instigating factors that may influence publics" attitude towards police and counter terrorism policing strategies? Pakistan police force must improve its police public relationship as a method to employ in combating and dealing with terror threats, since this strategy will have a direct impact on fight against terrorism in Pakistan. Miscreants attacked states legal institutions to make it more fragile in order to challenge the writ of the government. Police has also become target for these extremist groups in Pakistan because of its politicization that some terrorist organizations consider against their religious ethos so the role of police becomes important in the affairs of state. The best practices for fight against radicalization, Building Trust between the Citizens and the Police: Incorporating International Experiences and Police-Army Cooperation are important steps. Since the police is conscientious for positively symbolizing the authority of the state, their conduct to citizens is imperative for promotion of law-abiding approach amongst the public. Responsible role of police will help the state and society to counter terrorism in Pakistan.