Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR)

Multi-choice Policing in Uganda

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Who authorises and delivers policing in Uganda? Participative research reveals a fragmented and overlapping pattern of policing. However, for historical reasons, it is still heavily influenced, if not controlled, by state institutions. This paper, published in Policing & Society, argues that the diversification of policing in Uganda is more one of choice, rather than ownership. Such ‘multi-choice’ policing demands the construction of a law and order policy that is based on incorporating all acceptable policing groups.

Policing, as it is experienced, is not just diverse, it is a complex pattern of overlapping police agencies. Individuals move between spheres of policing and face choices between state-run, informal and commercial agencies. The diversification of policing away from the state police in Uganda has not been a straightforward move to non-state formal and informal agencies. The configuration of the Ugandan state following the end of the civil war in 1986 has been crucial in determining the nature of justice and the relative absence of informal justice.

Through its penetration of society by its local council structure and a process of militarization of policing units, the state has maintained a strong influence. Three types of police structure are explored: those operated by the state; private and community organisations approved by the state; and those that are illegal:

• The structure of Local councils (LCs) has had a remarkable ordering effect on social life. With wide ranging responsibilities, they act as a first line of protection against crime and are crucial to the successful organisation of law and order structures.
• The Uganda Police lack adequate personnel, transport and equipment. However, a number of positive reforms have enhanced their effectiveness and improved public perceptions.
• The emergence of military units to address serious crime is indicative of centralisation. Their success is undermined by a loss of accountability.
• Police initiated crime prevention panels and traders' associations, originating in private and commercial interests, are forms of state approved citizen self-policing.
• The rapid growth of commercial security groups is associated with rising crime and the withdrawal of the police from guarding. They are subject to police licensing and supervision.
• Mob justice, motivated by distrust of the justice system and police, is present but decreasing.

For Ugandans, policing choices are based on availability, effectiveness and affordability:

• The choice available is not simply between accountable public policing and minimally accountable private policing. Public policing fails to serve all equally, and frequently is not free.
• A gender sensitive approach to crime and disorder is important. Women often define law and order as more than the absence of crime; it encompasses responsible behaviour and the provision of care.
• Research detected both an interpenetration of information between policing groups and relationships of competition more than cooperation.
• The government has the authority to clearly define the desired relationships between the different policing structures and set the parameters.
• A national strategy of law and order that integrates, regulates, mobilises and empowers acceptable policing groups is the best possible response to Uganda’s multi-choice policing context.

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