Harnessing public engagement for police accountability in Africa

The report examines the role of 'social control' or public accountability in democratic policing, contrasting 'back-end' accountability (addressing misconduct after it occurs) with 'front-end' accountability (public involvement in policy and practice). It identifies challenges to public engagement in fragile democracies, such as social inequalities and the use of police as tools for ruling elites. The author proposes a four-step approach for African contexts: opening communication lines, building trust through dialogue, developing multi-tiered partnerships, and collaborating on community-level problem solving. Case studies from Jamaica, the US, Brazil, and Honduras illustrate various collaborative and confrontational mechanisms of public oversight.

• Police accountability is categorized into three primary pathways: internal control, state control, and social control, with the latter focusing on public accountability or 'accountability from below'.
• Public engagement in police accountability often focuses on 'back-end' activities, such as exposing abuse and advocating for victims, rather than 'front-end' engagement in developing the rules and policies that govern police behavior.
• Procedural justice—characterized by voice, transparency, fairness, and impartiality—is essential for building police legitimacy and fostering a reciprocal relationship between the police and the community.
• In fragile or developing democracies, public engagement is often resisted by powerful political actors and senior officials who may use the police as instruments of oppression or to protect ruling elites.
• Effective police reform in Africa requires local ownership and must be driven by local realities and jointly developed solutions rather than imported external models.
• The report suggests a four-step framework for African contexts: decreasing the distance between police and community via communication, building trust through dialogue, creating multi-level partnerships, and collaborating on community-level problem solving.
• Case studies demonstrate that both collaborative approaches (like the Peace and Justice Project in Honduras) and confrontational advocacy (like the Alliance for Peace and Justice in Honduras) can achieve significant results in reducing crime and removing corrupt officers.

APA

Sigsworth, R. (2019). Harnessing public engagement for police accountability in Africa. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/ar21-1.pdf

Chicago

Sigsworth, Romi. Harnessing public engagement for police accountability in Africa. Institute for Security Studies, 2019. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/ar21-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Sigsworth |first1=Romi |title=Harnessing public engagement for police accountability in Africa |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=December 2019 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/ar21-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sigsworth2019harnessing, author = {Sigsworth, Romi}, title = {{Harnessing public engagement for police accountability in Africa}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2019}, month = dec, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/ar21-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }