ODI Global
Inside of the Community Police Office
Community Police Offices are very basic with limited resources to support administrative duties. Most Offices lack a computer (although in some communities Advisory Councils have successfully fundraised for one) and electricity is rare. The Offices are centrally located within communities and display lists of Advisory Council members, as well as members of the local militia and community volunteers who conduct night time patrols of the community. Militia are government-authorised volunteers who are usually armed and man checkpoints at entrances to towns and carry out neighbourhood patrols. Many of them were formerly resistance fighters against the Derg regime, which the current Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democracy Front (EPRDF) overthrew in 1991. There are approximately 128,000 militia in Amhara National Regional State, as compared with just 14,000 Regional police, and therefore make up a significant component of the security apparatus in Ethiopia, though they often lack strong oversight.
To read more about community policing in Ethiopia, see ODI's recent case study.
Images ODI/Lisa Denney
Inside of the Community Police Office
Community Police Offices are very basic with limited resources to support administrative duties. Most Offices lack a computer (although in some communities Advisory Councils have successfully fundraised for one) and electricity is rare. The Offices are centrally located within communities and display lists of Advisory Council members, as well as members of the local militia and community volunteers who conduct night time patrols of the community. Militia are government-authorised volunteers who are usually armed and man checkpoints at entrances to towns and carry out neighbourhood patrols. Many of them were formerly resistance fighters against the Derg regime, which the current Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democracy Front (EPRDF) overthrew in 1991. There are approximately 128,000 militia in Amhara National Regional State, as compared with just 14,000 Regional police, and therefore make up a significant component of the security apparatus in Ethiopia, though they often lack strong oversight.
To read more about community policing in Ethiopia, see ODI's recent case study.
Images ODI/Lisa Denney