Study shows police not trusted

A University of Malawi (Unima) study has found that both police officers and the public perceive corruption as among major contributing factors to loss of trust in the police, which ultimately breeds citizens’ dissatisfaction.

The report says perceived corruption is also leading to increased cases of assault on police officers and damage to police infrastructure, mob justice, and demotivation of the community to participate in community policing.

Titled ‘Effects of corruption on implementation of community policing as a form of co-production in Malawi’s Lilongwe District’, the study was conducted by Commissioner of Police Noel Kayira, who is a lawyer and Unima professor in the Political and Administrative Studies Department Happy Kayuni.

Reads the study in part: “A majority of respondents felt that police corruption resulted in loss of trust in the police. People were dissatisfied with the police. As a result, justice according to law has been lost to mob justice.”

Further, a majority of police officers and community members perceived citizens residing in low-density areas to have satisfactory levels of trust in the police while those living in high-density as well as rural areas do not trust the police.

A member of a Community Police Forum (CPF) said sometimes police officers  receive bribes to release crime suspects on the pretext that they are  insane.

“The major implication for the study is that for community policing as a co-production to achieve meaningful results, there is need to improve people’s trust in the police by addressing corruption among the ranks and file in the police service,” the report further reads.

Police officers’ misconduct while on duty is dominating the list of complaints which the Independent Complaints Committee (ICC) has received since its inception in August 2021.

In an interview with The Nation edition of June 12 2024, ICC spokesperson Happy Njalam’mano said the commission has so far received 258 complaints, of which 196 (about 76 percent) were about police officers misconduct while on duty.

But while acknowledging the existence of some bad apples in the service, National Police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said they have employed several measures to deal with corruption, which includes disciplining those involved.

He said the police have entities which all aim to root out corruption and instil discipline, among others.