Community policing in crime control: challenges and future prospects: a case of Magu district-Tanzania
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Date
2013
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
The ‘Community Policing’ programme was officially introduced in Tanzania by Tanzania Police Force in 2006. It was aimed at mitigating the long standing antagonism between the police and the community and reducing the rate of crime through the participation of the members of community in policing activities. However, available criminal statistics have attested to the increasing rate of crime and conflicts between the Police and the communities in which the programme has been introduced. This has been made evident by several reported incidents where police stations and police residences were burned by the community members. The objective of this study was to explore the underlying factors responsible for inadequate or the current level of poor performance of Community Policing in Tanzania by identifying some challenges and hence its future prospects. The study used qualitative approaches of data generation so as to capture attitude and experiences of the research subjects (Community and the members of police). Research findings revealed that processes of introducing and implementing, the programme have failed due to the failure of the executors of the programme to observe the basic principles of community participation. By its very nature, Community Policing needs to, first of all, incorporate and be guided by principles and/or prerequisites of community participation in which trust and awareness creation are very vital. This does not appear to be the case in this programme as attested by the findings of this study. It is hereby recommended that in order to overcome challenges/obstacles that led to the poor implementation of Community Policing, the Tanzania Police Force needs to incorporate several aspects and principles of community participation; building a “bridge” between the police and community; changes in the recruitment procedures; training and curriculum; as well as making resources available for the implementation of Community Policing activities.
Description
Available in print form
Keywords
Crime prevention, Citizen participation, Magu District, Tanzania
Citation
Mrisho, M. S (2013) Community policing in crime control: challenges and future prospects: a case of Magu district-Tanzania, Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. (Available at http://41.86.178.3/internetserver3.1.2/detail.aspx)