By Amin Kef Sesay
A video circulating on social media allegedly involving some members of the Presidential security detail, making threatening remarks against the public, has awakened the nation’s mind to what happened in Sierra Leone during the one party days from the 1970s to the 1980s at the hands of the security sector, and during the war in the 1990s, when the armed forces woefully, at the initial stages of the RUF war, failed to protect the citizens from the horrors of war.
Many citizens are concerned that with the Police Force still remaining loyal to the party in power, instead of to the State and its people, the entire security sector must be adequately educated on the need for them to remain strictly non-partisan in ensuring a durable national democratic governance framework.
Public safety depends very much on the armed forces being at all times well trained and competent to ensure the country’s territorial integrity.
In terms of the Police, the nation should be assured that they are professionally trained to have respect for human rights, provide reliable and accountable services, equal opportunities and professionalism.
No doubt, the ability of the security sector to provide law and order is at the heart of the country’s peace, social cohesion and socio-economic development; as investors would hardly risk putting their money into a country that they think is not safe and politically stable.
A security sector apparatus that is disciplined, accountable and effective in law enforcement is paramount, because there is still widespread poverty, combined with endemic corruption that is creating despair, discontent and increasing criminality, which only the security sector, by being proactive, can control.
Furthermore, as we go into the crucial 2023 national elections, there are many unemployed and discontented young people who are potential recruits for the political elite and for increased criminal activity.
The most significant problems, from a governance perspective, lie in seeming lack of democratic oversight and control mechanisms in the security sector.
Until the security sector, especially the police see themselves as not above the law but subject to it like every other citizen, the problem of police brutality and highhandedness against citizens would not become a thing of the past.
There needs to be more active cooperation between the police and civilians in the detection and prevention of crime.
In 2001, a community security approach called Local Needs Policing (LNP) was initiated, predicated on the need to address the security gap that existed at the time and restore public trust and confidence in the police.
Through it, the Local Police Partnership Boards (LPPBs), the Chiefdom Police Partnership Committees (CPPC) and the Area Police Partnership Committees (APPC) were subsequently formed. These police-civilian relationship and cooperation bodies need rejuvenation; as without the involvement of communities in policing, crime become hard to detect and tackled by the police.
Oversight is central to discipline and control in all institutions. The question of who polices the police needs addressing if the Police Force is to become accountable and answerable for acts of misdeed by officers in the performance of their duties.
