Democratizing Security or Decentralizing Repression? The ambiguities of community policing in Kenya

Crime, and the means to control it, are major preoccupations for the citizens of Nairobi. Traditional policing methods have failed to curb a rising tide of criminality, with members of the police being criticized for corruption, complicity with criminals, and resort to extra-judicial killings. With a view to improving this situation, Kenyans are experimenting with community policing strategies, pioneered in the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa. This article provides a brief background to the emergence of community policing in these countries, dissecting the ambiguities in its conceptualization. It then introduces the context of crime and policing in Kenya, before providing a detailed examination of two community policing projects supported by different civil society organizations in Nairobi. The aim of the article is to show that ambiguity in the concept of community policing means that in practice it may operate to reinforce undemocratic and oppressive structures in Kenyan society. The authors conclude by advocating a more radical transformation of the political culture in which policing initiatives are set.