Community-police partnership: reflections on challenges of community policing in developing countries and implications for Kenya

In the last 3 decades community policing (CP) has attracted increasing attention as a strategy to improve public security and safety. It seeks to transform the policing organizations from reliance on criminal law and procedures to adopt consensual extra-legal strategies in problem solving and emphasizes participation and partnership with the communities in order to address security and other social order problems. It has been adopted in many of the developing countries emerging from different kinds of conflicts or making a transition from years of authoritarian rule characterized by politicization of policing institutions, gross abuse of human rights by the police and lack of accountability, which created a poor relationship between the police and the public. Advocates of CP regard it as a viable alternative to address the problems of trust and lack of accountability in the police. The study investigates the realities of participation and partnership in the implementation of CP in developing countries and explores the nature of challenges that confront the implementation of these programs for possible lessons. -- Relevance to Development Studies -- The importance of security has been recognized as essential in creating an environment in which poverty-reducing development can occur. In the recent times, development has come to be recognized as encompassing not only economic growth and physical development but also including public security and safety. Community policing with its emphasis on partnership and participation of the community is a recent phenomena in delivery of security services in developing countries. This study contributes to our understanding of the prospects and limitations of this partnership with reference to Kenya.