March 2015

In Mathare Informal Settlement in Kenya, two forums were held on 26th September 2014; a “forum for police officers and youth,” and on 13th October, a “forum for police officers, key community members and administrative officers.” The purpose of these forums was to get rid of deep-rooted distrust between the police officers and the community members particularly youth, and to prevent crimes or violence more effectively.
a police officer explaining the way to investigate
In Mathare, it often happens that a young man is arrested as a crime suspect, which causes distrust and antagonism against the police especially among youth. At this “forum for police officer and youth,” the head of the local police station explained which cases were considered to be unlawful enough to be arrested and carefully and adequately replied to many questions from the youth.
One of the questions was “Why do you arrest someone?”
The answer was that, in order to prevent a further crime from occurring, the police officers detain and investigate suspects, and the police officers have the right to arrest the suspects within Kenya. And he told them that the police officers do investigations in order not to make them feel uneasy in a community.

a police officer showing hadcuffs upon arresting
After the session with the head of the police station, a leader of Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) team (a team of the community members who contribute to conflict prevention in the community) made a presentation to share the key information with the participants. Then, the police officers appreciated the EWER team and promised to pay more attention to the shared information.
Now the community members understood police officers’ work and realized police officers are the same human beings like other community members. This forum turned out to be a good opportunity to learn that promoting mutual understanding makes their relationship better.
Those who participated, youth and the community members, realized that they themselves are a part of the community to play a role in preventing crimes and conflicts. They shared the willingness to make frequent exchanges of information to improve safety for their community.
Attendants listening carefully to a speech

At the “forum for police officers, community members and the administrative officers”, attendees were police officers, administrative officers, teachers, paralegals, counselors and community leaders. They discussed about community safety in Mathare and reinforced their mutual relationship for better collaborations. Through a session by an expert in community safety, the participants understood that safety is one of the most important factors to lead a stable life and to get a better income. Then participants discussed three topics in three groups: (1) the types of crimes in Mathare and challenges that the police faces; (2) the activities and its impacts ofcommunity based organizations; (3) the causes of crimes and the ways to resolve them.

Deputy head of the police station explaining the roles of police officers

They concluded that drug abuse and a lack of access toinformation and judiciary are the main challenges and tackling these issues would be the key to improve the communitysafety. Then, they formed a team to oversee and implement the recommendations that were discussed in the forum. The active key community members got together at this forum and had constructive discussions. As a consequence, the forum helped the participants understand clearly what challenges the community is facing.
They understood their respective roles and agreed to build a collaborative mechanism to improve safety in Mathare.
The police also agreed to actively involve the activities with the community members and to make an effort to improve safety in Mathare.


* This project has been implemented by a support of JCCP members and donators, as well as the grant from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO).