Makerere University supports Police's efforts on community policing

According to a statement from UPF, 100 senior and lower-ranking officers have already been re-skilled to deal with the communities. The training followed research by Makerere University, which revealed a gap between senior and junior officers in how they handled the community.

Senior officers were found to be more competent in dealing with communities. Co-principal investigator ACP Dr. Barbara Alungat said the project dubbed 'rethinking community policing towards a crime-free society' is aimed at training 400 officers. Dr. Alungat said the program is aimed at training police officers, community leaders, local councils and religious leaders in community policing.

She said the partnerships between Makerere and Police and communities should be put at the centre, and look at how each officer needs the awareness of the community they serve for the specific content because the needs of the community in Kawempe are different from the needs of the community in Katwe, Nansana, Mpigi and Greater Masaka.

"Our research recommends revisiting the philosophy of community policing to have a crime-free society and peaceful communities. So, we need to work together. We have been in this partnership (with the Police) for a long time. We also train Police in Masters in Peace and Conflicts Studies," said Prof. Helen Nkabala Nambalirwa, who represented the Research and Innovation Fund at Makerere University. "We also need these communities to be empowered economically, especially on basic needs. Community policing is very important and we believe that its philosophy needs to be revisited to achieve what we call integral policing."

Principal Investigator Prof. Veneranda Mbabazi said that recommendations of the research are being implemented to address the policing gap.