Two sides of Sierra Leone's police

By Lansana Fofana
BBC Africa Live!, Freetown

Keith Biddle is credited with turning around the public's perception of the police

"A force for good" was the motto adopted by the Sierra Leonean police some three years ago, when British-born Keith Biddle headed it as Inspector General.

Before then, one could well describe the police literally as a "force for worse".

Not only was the police force highly politicised; Sierra Leoneans saw it as it was corrupt to the core, with standards falling and a lack of professionalism.

This view persisted up until the time Mr Biddle and the Commonwealth team stepped in with their police reform programme.

Three years on, one may be tempted to ask how professional and changed is the Sierra Leonean police?

Improved relations

The indications are that the police force has improved in a number of areas, at the same time having faced numerous challenges.

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The force has been retrained by British and Commonwealth officers and equipped to combat rising crime in post-war Sierra Leone.

The anti-riot wing of the force, which before was used as a political tool to suppress dissent, has shown its capability in dealing with crowd disturbances and violence, from school riots to public demonstrations.

And the introduction of community policing has, at least to some degree, changed the face of the force and has helped minimise petty crime in some communities and restored some form of law and order in previously no-go neighbourhoods.

This has also improved the suspicious and sometimes hostile relationship between the police and the civilian population. The public is gradually having its confidence restored in a force that was largely loathed.

Slip

However there are still many in Sierra Leone who fear the police may soon slip back to their bad habits.

For one, traffic cops - ever notorious for harassing motorists and taking bribes from commercial vehicle owners - seem to be back to their dirty tricks, with cases of such practices abounding.

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And in the provinces, there is still the practice of police personnel charging complainants fees for papers, pens, etc before obtaining statements from them.

There has also been an upsurge in armed robbery on a virtually nightly basis.

With the civil war now over, criminals are on the prowl. Some are violently attacking residential homes, sometimes using firearms.

This is proving an enigma for the force. Some members of the public believe there is strong collusion between police officers and criminals, to the extent that the police sometimes allegedly provide cover for high-profile criminals for a share of the booty.

The lack of adequate incentives for police officers in terms of salaries and remuneration, coupled with political interference that is yet to go away, is clearly undermining the efficiency of the force.

Police chief IG Kamara - generally seen as a determined officer and one that is highly professional - has now vowed to bring sanity to the force, a difficult task indeed.

His latest campaign, dubbed "Operation Free Flow" and aimed at removing street garages that block Sierra Leone's roads to ensure the free flow of traffic, seems to be working so far and does have the blessing of the general public.

It is indeed a good start, but would certainly require a little more if the police are to be seen as friends of the people and enforcers of the law.