Community Policing Approaches to Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) in Africa

Community Policing, CVE

Existent efforts on the part of defense and civilian law enforcement institutions to engage with local communities show that approaches to collaborative security and community-oriented policing are not new to African states affected by terrorism and violent extremism. Indeed, a number of African states struggling to contain the expansion of violent extremist groups have embraced community policing as a necessary complement to traditional policing practices. In some cases, the potential benefits of improving existing policing practices and/or expanding and adapting security approaches that build and rely on trust and collaboration between security forces, local government officials, and populations are already apparent. Consolidating the benefits of community policing, however, takes time and continued commitment. Community policing is also not a silver bullet for preventing and countering violent extremism and terrorism. Unless embedded in a holistic strategy that seeks to address the conditions that fuel violent extremism and terrorism, its beneficial impacts will remain limited.