Sierra Leone Police Reform: the role of the UK government

Sierra Leone’s civil war left development urgently needing security and security urgently needing reform. The initial UK response was un-coordinated until the Poverty Reduction Strategy 2004 which highlighted the importance of security. The SSR review, in response, made the security-development link explicit and all state security providers together with the judiciary, oversight mechanisms and relevant NGOs were brought together under the Justice Sector Development Programme. This review of police reform, questions its understanding of the political context; the wisdom of ignoring chiefs and commercial security; and the poorly conceived community policing programme. Overall the UK’s most important police reform programme proved too ambitious.Prepared for the GRIPS State Building Workshop 2010: Organizing Police Forces in Post-Conflict Peace-Support Operations, January 27-28th, 2010政治学 / Political Science and International Relationstechnical repor