Community Policing in the Middle East and Africa: A Matter of Context?
This article explores some of the challenges associated with introducing what is, in effect, a “Westernized” community policing concept to the Middle East and Africa. The authors are practitioners in this area from Northern Ireland and Jordan having in excess of 50 years policing experience between them. They have advised upon, trained and implemented programs on “Community Policing and Engagement” in the Middle East (Jordan, Qatar, Lebanon) as well as in the Horn and South East Africa, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and the Balkans. They argue that more attention needs to be paid to basic context setting and understanding of the perceptions of the beneficiary state and communities therein on, what can be, an alien concept of Community Policing/Engagement and Outreach. They further argue that problem solving and informal justice/dispute resolution mechanisms in the Middle East, Horn and Sub-Saharan Africa can form part of a new and bespoke package “fit for purpose” in these contexts.
