SIERRA LEONE HAS THE 10TH WORST POLICE FORCE IN THE WORLD

By Our Correspondent, Freetown SIERRA LEONE

The latest ranking of the police forces in the world by the World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI) have ranked Sierra Leone 117 out of 127, making them the 10th worst police force in the world with Nigeria being the worstest. 

Sierra Leone's male police offices brutally arrest a female suspect

In an Interview with ASP, Saio Conteh, Media Two of the Sierra Leone Police Communications about the latest rankings, said they are yet to see it and when they have a copy of it then they will respond adequately. 

Talking with the Executive Director of Campaign for Human Rights International (CHRDI), Abdul Fatorma, said he is not surprised with the ranking because the police is so politicized that they have forgotten their role to protect lives and property. 

“The number of arrests that have been made by the police on the orders from above is so appalling that every citizen today in the country is not safe as well as being frustrated that the police have become a tool of the politicians.” 

He noted that the second reason why they will always be at the bottom is due to the wicked laws in the books that the police use to stop citizens from exercising their democratic rights to strike.

Fatorma averred that for decades now the police have been blocking citizens from protesting or demonstrating, which he said is not good for its democracy. 

“The third point I want to stress is corruption which the citizens have always pointed at. It is always reported that many police in the traffic division, the checkpoints and even in the intelligence unit are always asking for bribes, which is not good for the force.” He said adding that the police force had gone through rigorous training over the years, but they still continue to do the negative things that tell on the force.

Corruption in both the governance structure at large of a country, as well as in the police force specifically, is a crucial factor that undermines internal security.

In a shocking display of brutality, the Kenyan
riot policeman then appears to lift his
boot-clad foot to stomp on the man's head.

Corruption is closely correlated with internal peacefulness, and corruption in the police force, judiciary, and military is the best predictor of poor internal peace outcomes, as well as deteriorations in peacefulness in the long run. Corruption reduces the quality of the civil service, increases inefficiency, and is closely correlated with wasteful government spending.

The activist said the police has to do more to regain that confidence from the people and to make themselves respectable at all times. 

The report states that Africa’s best police service is that of Botswana despite being ranked 47th best in the world.

This is according to the World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI) released by two bodies, the International Police Science Association (IPSA) and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). 

The index ranked the Rwandan police as Africa’s second best (with global position of 50th) followed by Algeria (58th), Senegal (68th) and Tunisia (72nd) in that order.

Completing the top 10 for Africa were, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Ghana, South Africa and Mali respectively. 

“WISPI measures the ability of the police and other security providers to address internal security issues in 127 countries, across four domains, using sixteen indicators,” authors of the report stated.

The four domains are capacity, process, legitimacy and outcomes. 

Despite the failure of Africa to break into the top forty, the continent was very prominent in the lower rankings.

While Tanzania is ranked 110 globally, the five worst performing countries in the world are Pakistan (123), Uganda (124), Kenya (125), Democratic Republic of Congo (126) and Nigeria (127).

At the top of the global rankings, Europe dominated with eight countries.

Except first place Singapore and Australia in sixth spot, all the other countries were in Europe – Finland, Denmark, Austria, Germany (2nd – 5th), Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland (7th – 10th). 

The aim of the WISPI is to, firstly, measure security provider performance across the four domains of internal security: capacity, process, legitimacy and outcomes. 

Secondly, to see how these domains relate to each other and finally to track trends in these domains over time, and to inform the work of security providing agencies, researchers, and practitioners in the field of peace and conflict studies, criminology, and police studies. - Africa