Experts agree that police reform involving the community is critical for peace and development. Yet to date there has not been a study on what international practitioners are doing in community-based policing (CBP) initiatives across Southeastern Europe. This document, by the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Support to Security Sector Reform (SSSR) Programme, looks at project activities that address the issue of community involvement in police reform in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia. It argues that the SSSR Programme is contributing to increased security in Albania and is a model worthy of replication.
The definition of CBP utilized by the SSSR Programme and throughout this document is: “A philosophy (a way of thinking) and an organizational strategy (a way to carry out the philosophy) that allows the police and the community to work together in new ways to solve local problems of crime, disorder, and safety to improve the quality of life for everyone in the community.”
The research reaches the following main conclusions:
- In four cases, CBP has been brought into the classroom. Activities such as awareness education and sports activities involving students and officers create greater trust in the police and may reduce juvenile crime.
- Some CBP projects have aimed to use the media to encourage local actors to become involved in creating local strategies, yet this has been ineffective. Initiatives where police have worked with the community to develop campaigns to address local issues and then used the media for publicity were more worthwhile.
- All the cases involved the support of a forum allowing the community and police to work together. These forums identify and solve local issues of crime, security and development. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a concentrated focus on the grassroots level may be better able to improve safety.
- CBP training should involve all officers and staff and should emphasise the need for community partnerships and problem solving. Yet concrete practices must not only be taught, but also put into practice in the field.
- Only a few cases in this study pay for physical changes to police infrastructure such as the transformation of public reception areas.
The report makes the following recommendations for the SSSR Programme:
- The degree to which the SSSR Programme’s awareness education affects the relationship between the public and the police should be quantitatively assessed. The Programme should share lessons learned with regional actors involved in CBP.
- The SSSR Programme should encourage the police and the public to play a more active role in producing public safety campaigns, not so much for the sake of quality, but because they will learn directly about CBP.
- The SSSR Programme should pilot its model on a larger scale and compare its results to current grass-roots activities. It should refrain from dispensing large grants to its Community Problem Solving Groups and instead, encourage more sustainable forms of development.
- The SSSR Programme should develop and promote tools like “security marketing” which operationalise the philosophies of CBP for the Albanian State Police.
- The SSSR Programme should continue to look for ways in which to align the physical structures of the police with the security needs of the public.
