KABUL - National and international police officials and experts today exchanged knowledge on community policing in Afghanistan, including on ways to build trust and confidence between police and local communities, at a United Nations-supported conference on Police-e-Mardumi (‘community policing’) in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Addressing the conference, Afghanistan’s Minister of Interior, General Ghulam Mujtaba Patang, said that the Police-e-Mardumi programme, initiated with the objective of law enforcement and community policing, is currently underway in eight of the country’s 34 provinces, where it has been integrated into central policing structures.

“Social order and enforcement of law are not only the responsibility of police but of every individual and I ask the people to extend their cooperation to the Afghan police,” said Gen. Patang, who added that the Afghan Government plans to extend the programme to the country’s remaining 26 provinces.

In addition to discussions on the need for effective community policing, as well as the challenges involved, participants also broke out into smaller worker groups to talk about an Afghan definition of community policing and ways to enhance the capacity of the country’s police personnel.

Earlier this year, Afghanistan’s Ministry of the Interior (MoI) developed a 10-year strategy for the Afghan National Police. According to this plan, it seeks to transform the Afghan police from a force more accustomed to a traditional fighting and counter-insurgency role into a service focused on law enforcement and community policing. In line with the strategy, on 28 January, a democratic policing project was launched by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), with funding from the Government of the Netherlands.

The three-year project aims to empower citizens to play an active role in police accountability and community engagement. It emphasizes outreach to women and children in the context of the Ministry’s broader Police-e-Mardumi programme. Activities include strengthening the relationship between family response units and health-care providers,a university outreach project, and a literacy programme for female police officers.

To aid the Afghan-led programme, the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA) of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) sponsored a study tour in February for 11 high-ranking MoI officials to observe first-hand Turkey’s community policing initiatives.

The Trust Fund pays the salaries and remuneration of more than 140,000 Afghan National Police personnel and over 7,000 prison personnel. As of 28 May, just over 1,900 of the 140,000 were women.

LOTFA’s Programme Manager, Norman Sanders, told today’s gathering in Kabul that the road to community policing begins at the top of MoI and it requires “courage and vision” from the Ministry’s leadership.

“Even though the eventual destination of community policing is at the community, village and district [levels], building a community policing approach cannot begin at that level – it cannot trickle up, it needs to flow down,” said Mr. Sanders.

At today’s conference, Gen. Patang said a directorate – led by a Police General – has been established within the MoI to consolidate the work of all national and international organizations working to make the Afghan police force “more professional and community oriented.” He called on civil society organizations and the media to encourage Afghan women to join the police ranks.

The Afghan Government plans to significantly increase the number of women in the Afghan police force, aiming for women to make up about ten per cent of the total number of personnel in as many years.

The Minister said the directorate will gather any complaints that people may have on policing efforts, organize sports events between police and communities, and train police personnel and community representatives on legal matters, and facilitate direct meetings with local communities twice a month.

“Afghanistan has a traditional and conservative society, therefore the Ulema (religious scholars) can play a significant role in creating awareness among the people by shedding light on the importance of mutual cooperation of police and people in their sermons in the mosques,” said Gen. Patang.

Other activities the Directorate will facilitate include training on traffic rules, training school students on firefighting, raising awareness on the negative consequences of illicit drugs, and setting up mobile police teams to register people’s complaints.

LOTFA’s Mr. Sanders noted that if feasible, realistic and achievable results are shown to international donors, there is “a significant amount of funding” that could be mobilized to support the objectives of community policing in Afghanistan.

“UNDP-LOTFA hopes that one of the outcomes of today’s deliberations will be an Afghan definition of community policing and expectations of participants from international community in helping to build that approach,” said Mr. Sanders.

A representative of the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan (EUPOL), Peiter Geelman, called for an Afghan-ized form of community policing that could reduce distance between police and the people, increase police handling of a broad range of problems in communities, promote a preventive approach to policing in addition to a reactive one, and encourage citizens’ involvement.

EUPOL Afghanistan helps the Afghan authorities develop their civilian policing capacities, while delivering leadership and specialized training to the police personnel.

Related articles:

- Afghan police force recruits women to fight crime and stigma

- Afghan female police to improve literacy through mobile phone programme

- UN-backed training boosts Afghan police ability to address consequences of sexual abuse and violence

- UN in Afghanistan works to build capacity of women police and access to justice for women, children