African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) has said that its police component has developed guidelines to assist the Somali Police Force (SPF) in implementing community policing initiatives on combating crime.
ATMIS Deputy Coordinator of Police Reforms, Alex Ndili, said the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for community policing were developed jointly with the SPF community policing directorate to help enhance crime prevention.
“Crime prevention is the foundation on which the standard operating procedures are anchored and this is important to nation-building,” Ndili said in a statement issued in Nairobi, Kenya.
Ndili said the development of the SOPs will support the rollout of community policing in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, and the federal member states.
He said the SOPs outline the roles of various stakeholders in community policing, how to introduce community policing structures, the formation of committees, and identify community challenges.
Somali Police Commissioner, Abdi Hassan Mohamed Hijar, said the rolling out of SOPs comes as the government has decided to mobilise the people to stand up to al-Shabab, a militant group.
“They are cancer and must be eradicated if we are to move forward economically, politically, or militarily,” Hijar said.
