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ABSTRACT
Residents of Kismayo, Somalia choose to empower local police with greater discretionary authority. Why is this so? Can police militarisation encourage such public views? Relying on a new dataset on community perceptions and qualitative field interviews, this study examines the relationship between perceived police militarisation and police empowerment in a society that has experienced prolonged conflict and currently faces an active insurgent threat. Despite the poor record of police militarisation in western democracies, this study's quantitative findings suggest that the more visible dimensions of police militarisation (material and cultural) are significantly related to greater public support for police empowerment in southern Somalia. Specifically, field interviews reveal that the symbolic appearance of militarisation and the accompanying hierarchical discipline and formalism convey a level of preparedness and professionalism that encourages residents to willingly empower police. Furthermore, results also suggest that clan representation within the force is significantly associated with police empowerment.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Robert Blair, Sabrina Karim, and Benjamin Morse, ‘Establishing the Rule of Law in Weak and War-torn States: Evidence from a Field Experiment with the Liberian National Police,’ American Political Science Review 113, no. 3 (2019): 641–57.
2 Tom R. Tyler, Why People Cooperate: The Role of Social Motivations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011); Lorraine Mazerolle, Sarah Bennett, Jacqueline Davis, Elise Sargeant, and Matthew Manning, ‘Legitimacy in Policing: A Systematic Review,’ Campbell Systematic Reviews 9, no. 1 (2013): i–147.
3 Tom R. Tyler, ‘Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and the Effective Rule of Law,’ Crime and Justice 30 (2003): 283–357; Christi Metcalfe and Olivia Hodge, ‘Empowering the Police to Fight Terrorism in Israel,’ Criminology & Criminal Justice 18, no. 5 (2018): 585–603.
4 Tyler, ‘Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and the Effective Rule of Law’; Daniel K. Pryce, ‘The Relative Effects of Normative and Instrumental Models of Policing on Police Empowerment: Evidence From a Sample of Sub-Saharan African Immigrants,’ Criminal Justice Policy Review 30, no. 3 (2019): 428–50.
5 Jen Kirby, ‘“Black Lives Matter” Has Become a Global Rallying Cry against Racism and Police Brutality,’ VOX, June 12, 2020, https://www.vox.com/2020/6/12/21285244/black-lives-matter-global-protests-george-floyd-uk-belgium; Agnes Kigotho, ‘Black Lives Matter Reflections: Kenya,’ Chatham House, September 1, 2020, https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2020-10/black-lives-matter-reflections-kenya; John Campbell, ‘Black Lives Matter Protests in Africa Shine a Light on Local Police Brutality,’ Council on Foreign Relations, July 8, 2020, https://www.cfr.org/blog/black-lives-matter-protests-africa-shine-light-local-police-brutality; Philip Reeves, ‘Brazilians Protest Over The Deaths Of 2 Black Boys, Denounce Racism,’ NPR, June 8, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/06/08/872470118/brazilians-protest-over-the-deaths-of-two-black-boys-denounce-racism; Katey Thom and Khylee Quince, ‘Black Lives Matter Outrage Must Drive Police Reform in Aotearoa-New Zealand Too,’ The Conversation, June 8, 2020, https://theconversation.com/black-lives-matter-outrage-must-drive-police-reform-in-aotearoa-new-zealand-too-139965; Michael Baggs, ‘Black Lives Matter in the UK: “We’re Still Not Being Heard”,’ BBC, August 25, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53812576
6 Edward E. Azar, Paul Jureidini, and Ronald McLaurin, ‘Protracted Social Conflict: Theory and Practice in the Middle East,’ Journal of Palestine Studies 29, no. 1 (1978): 41–60; Michael Colaresi and William R. Thompson, ‘Strategic Rivalries, Protracted Conflict, and Crisis Escalation,’ Journal of Peace Research 39, no. 2 (2002): 263–87.
7 Blair, Karim, and Morse, ‘Establishing the Rule of Law in Weak and War-torn States.’
8 Jason Hartwig, ‘How to End the Civil War in Somalia: Negotiate with Al-Shabaab,’ War on The Rocks, May 13, 2019, https://warontherocks.com/2019/05/how-to-end-the-civil-war-in-somalia-negotiate-with-al-shabaab/; Peter Kirechu, Al-Shabaab's Improvised Explosive Device Supply Chain Gambit in Somalia, War on the Rocks, September 22, 2020, https://warontherocks.com/2020/09/al-shabaabs-improvised-explosive-device-supply-chain-gambit-in-somalia/; Mary Harper, ‘Somalia Conflict: Al-Shabab “Collects More Revenue Than Government”,’ BBC News, October 26, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54690561; Tricia Bacon, ‘No Shortcuts to Negotiating with Al-Shabaab,’ Lawfare, November 22, 2020, https://www.lawfareblog.com/no-shortcuts-negotiating-al-shabaab.
9 International Crisis Group, ‘Ending the Dangerous Standoff in Southern Somalia,’ Crisis Group Africa Briefing, no. 158 (2020).
10 Peter B. Kraska, ‘Militarisation and Policing—Its Relevance to 21st Century Police,’ Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice 1, no. 4 (2007): 501–13, 503.
11 Victor E. Kappeler and Peter B. Kraska, ‘Normalising Police Militarisation, Living in Denial,’ Policing and Society 25, no. 3 (2015): 268–75; Jonathan Mummolo, ‘Militarisation Fails to Enhance Police Safety or Reduce Crime but May Harm Police Reputation,’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115, no. 37 (2018): 9181–6; Radley Balko, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarisation of America's Police Forces (New York: Public Affairs, 2013); Edward Lawson Jr., ‘TRENDS: Police Militarisation and the Use of Lethal Forces,’ Political Research Quarterly 72, no. 1 (2019): 177–89.
12 See for example, Mummolo, ‘Militarisation Fails to Enhance Police Safety or Reduce Crime but May Harm Police Reputation.’
13 See for example, Rita Abrahamsen, ‘Return of the Generals? Global Militarism in Africa from the Cold War to the Present,’ Security Dialogue 49, no. 1–2 (2018): 19–31; Naomi Pendle, ‘“They Are Now Community Police”: Negotiating the Boundaries and Nature of the Government in South Sudan through the Identity of Militarised Cattle-Keepers,’ International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 22 (2015): 410–34.
14 Justice Tankebe, ‘Public Cooperation with the Police in Ghana: Does Procedural Fairness Matter?’ Criminology 47, no. 4, (2009): 1265–93.
15 Tom R. Tyler, Why People Obey the Law (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990); Jason Sunshine and Tom R. Tyler, ‘The Role of Procedural Justice and Legitimacy in Shaping Public Support for Policing,’ Law and Society 37, no. 3 (2003): 513–48.
16 Kraska, ‘Militarisation and Policing—Its Relevance to 21st Century Police.’
17 Sunshine and Tyler, ‘The Role of Procedural Justice and Legitimacy in Shaping Public Support for Policing,’; 517.
18 Tyler, ‘Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and the Effective Rule of Law’; Tyler, Why People Obey the Law.
19 Tyler, Why People Obey the Law.
20 For more information see Justice Tankebe, ‘Public Cooperation with the Police in Ghana: Does Procedural Fairness Matter?’ Criminology 47, no. 4 (2009): 1265–93; Tammy Rinehart Kochel, Roger Parks, and Stephen D. Mastrofski, ‘Examining Police Effectiveness as a Precursor to Legitimacy and Cooperation with Police,’ Justice Quarterly 30, no. 5 (2013): 895–925; Kristina Murphy, Robert J. Cramer, Kevin A. Waymire, and Julie Barkworth, ‘Police Bias, Social Identity, and Minority Groups: A Social Psychological Understanding of Cooperation with Police,’ Justice Quarterly (2017): 1–26; Feng Li, Ivan Y. Sun, Yuning Wu, and, Siyu Liu, ‘The Mediating Roles of Law Legitimacy and Police Legitimacy in Predicting Cooperation with Police in China,’ Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 0, no. 0 (2020): 1–19; Justice Tankebe, ‘Cooperation with the Police against Corruption: Exploring the Roles of Legitimacy, Deterrence and Collective Action Theories,’ The British Journal of Criminology 59, no. 6 (2019): 1390–410; Michael Reisig, Jason Bratton, and Marc Gertz, ‘The Construct Validity and Refinement of Process-Based Policing Measures,’ Criminal Justice and Behavior 34 no. 8 (2007): 1005–28.
21 Tyler, ‘Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and the Effective Rule of Law.’
22 Tyler, ‘Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and the Effective Rule of Law,’ 291.
23 Pryce, ‘The Relative Effects of Normative and Instrumental Models of Policing on Police Empowerment.’
24 David Bayley, Changing the Guard: Developing democratic police abroad (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006).
25 Richard K. Moule Jr, George W. Burruss, Megan M. Parry, and Bryanna Fox, ‘Assessing the Direct and Indirect Effects of Legitimacy on Public Empowerment of Police: A Study of Public Support for Police Militarisation in America,’ Law & Society 53, no. 1 (2019): 77–107, 78.
26 Sunshine and Tyler, ‘The Role of Procedural Justice and Legitimacy in Shaping Public Support for Policing’; Moule et al., ‘Assessing the Direct and Indirect Effects of Legitimacy on Public Empowerment of Police’; Pryce, ‘The Relative Effects of Normative and Instrumental Models of Policing on Police Empowerment.’
27 Christi Metcalfe and Olivia Hodge, ‘Empowering the Police to Fight Terrorism in Israel,’ Criminology & Criminal Justice 18, no. 5 (2018): 585–603.
28 Trent Steidley and David M. Ramey, ‘Police Militarisation in the United States,’ Sociology Compass 13, no. 4 (2019): 1–16.
29 Peter A. J. Waddington, ‘Towards Paramilitarism? Dilemmas in Policing Civil Disorder,’ The British Journal of Criminology 27, no. 1 (1987): 37–46; Peter B. Kraska and Louis J. Cubellis, ‘Militarising Mayberry and Beyond: Making Sense of American Paramilitary Policing,’ Justice Quarterly 14, no. 4 (1997): 607–29.
30 Amanda Taub, ‘Why America's Police Forces Look Like Invading Armies,’ Vox, August 19, 2014, http://www.vox.com/2014/8/14/6003239/police-militarisation-in-ferguson; Paul D. Shinkman, ‘Ferguson and the Militarisation of Police,’ U.S. News, August 14, 2014, https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/08/14/ferguson-and-the-shocking-nature-of-us-police-militarisation; Niraj Chokshi, ‘Militarised Police in Ferguson Unsettles Some; Pentagon Gives Cities Equipment,’ The Washington Post, August 14, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/militarised-police-in-ferguson-unsettles-some-pentagon-gives-cities-equipment/2014/08/14/4651f670-2401-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html?noredirect=on; Mike Baker, Chaotic Scenes in Portland as Backlash to Federal Deployment Grows, The New York Times, July 22, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/21/us/portland-protests.html; Terry Gross, ‘Militarisation of Police Means U.S. Protesters Face Weapons Designed for War,’ NPR, July 1, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/07/01/885942130/militarisation-of-police-means-u-s-protesters-face-weapons-designed-for-war; Brakkton Booker, ‘Protests in White and Black, and the Different Response of Law Enforcement,’ NPR, January 7, 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/01/07/954568499/protests-in-white-and-black-and-the-different-response-of-law-enforcement.
31 Kraska, ‘Militarisation and Policing—Its Relevance to 21st Century Police,’ 502–3.
32 Steidley and Ramey, ‘Police Militarisation in the United States,’ 2.
33 Ibid.
34 Steidley and Ramey, ‘Police Militarisation in the United States,’ 3.
35 Egon Bittner, The Functions of Police in Modern Society: A Review of Background Factors, Current Practices, and Possible Role Models (Washington, DC: US National Institute of Mental Health, 1970), 53.
36 Egon Bittner, The Functions of Police in Modern Society, 53.
37 Kraska, ‘Militarisation and Policing—Its Relevance to 21st Century Police,’ 503.
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid.
41 Mummolo, ‘Militarisation Fails to Enhance Police Safety or Reduce Crime But May Harm Police Reputation’; Casey Delehanty, Jack Mewhirter, Ryan Welch, and Jason Wilks, ‘Militarisation and Police Violence: The Case of the 1033 Program,’ Research and Politics 4, no. 2 (2017): 1–7.
42 Waddington, ‘Towards Paramilitarism? Dilemmas in Policing Civil Disorder’; Peter A. J. Waddington, ‘The Case Against Paramilitary Policing Considered,’ The British Journal of Criminology 33, no. 3 (1993): 353–73.
43 Ibid.
44 Kevin R. Carriere and William Encinosa, ‘The Risks of Operational Militarisation: Increased Conflict Against Militarised Police,’ Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy 23, no. 3 (2017): 1–13; Barak Ariel, William A. Farrar, and Alex Sutherland, ‘The Effect of Police Body-Worn Cameras on Use of Force and Citizens’ Complaints Against the Police: A Randomised Controlled Trial,’ Journal of Quantitative Criminology 31, no. 3 (2015): 509–35.
45 Vincenzo Bove and Evelina Gavrilova, ‘Police Officer on the Frontline or a Soldier? The Effect of Police Militarisation on Crime,’ American Economic Journal: Economic Police 9, no. 3 (2017): 1–18; Carriere and Encinosa, ‘The Risks of Operational Militarisation’; Britton Haynes Jr. and Alexander F. McQuiod, ‘The Thin Blue Line: Police Militarisation and Violent Crime,’ New York Economic Review 49 (2018): 26–62; John W. Buttle, ‘Unravelling the “Velcro Effect”: Is Deterring Assaults Against the Police Indicative of a More Aggressive Style of Policing?’ International Journal of Police Science & Management 8, no. 2 (2005): 133–42.
46 Matthew C. Harris, Jinseong Park, Donald J. Bruce, and Matthew N. Murray, ‘Peacekeeping Force: Effects of Providing Tactical Equipment to Local Law Enforcement,’ American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 9, no. 3 (2017): 291–313.
47 Thomas J. Cowper, ‘The Myth of the “Military Model” of Leadership in Law Enforcement,’ Police Quarterly 3, no. 3 (2000): 228–46.
48 Garth den Heyer, ‘Mayberry Revisited: A Review of the Influence of Police Paramilitary Units on Policing,’ Policing and Society 24, no. 3 (2014): 346–61, 347.
49 SWAT refers to special weapons and tactics teams.
50 Kraska, ‘Militarisation and Policing—Its Relevance to 21st Century Police’; Kappeler and Kraska, ‘Normalising Police Militarisation, Living in Denial’; Mummolo, ‘Militarisation Fails to Enhance Police Safety or Reduce Crime But May Harm Police Reputation’; Balko, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarisation of America's Police Forces; Lawson Jr., ‘TRENDS: Police Militarisation and the Use of Lethal Forces.’
51 Phillip T. Wyrick, Police Militarisation: Attitudes Towards the Militarisation of the American Police (Johnson City, TN: East Tennessee State University, 2013) Retrieved from http://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1161.
52 Susan Page, ‘Poll: Whites and Blacks Question Police Accountability,’ USA Today, August 26, 2014, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/25/usa-today-pew-poll-police-tactics-military-equipment/14561633.
53 Mummolo, ‘Militarisation Fails to Enhance Police Safety or Reduce Crime But May Harm Police Reputation.’
54 Ibid.
55 Frederick W. Turner II and Bryanna Hahn Fox, ‘Public Servants or Police Soldiers? An Analysis of Opinions on the Militarisation of Policing from Police Executives, Law Enforcement, and Members of the 114th Congress U.S. House of Representatives,’ Police, Practice and Research 20, no. 2 (2019): 122–38.
56 Richard K. Moule Jr., Bryanna Hahn Fox, and Megan M. Parry, ‘The Long Shadow of Ferguson: Legitimacy, Legal Cynicism, and Public Perceptions of Police Militarisation,’ Crime & Delinquency 65, no. 2 (2019): 151–82.
57 Brian Lockwood, Matthew D. Doyle, and John G. Comiskey, ‘Armed, But Too Dangerous? Factors Associated with citizen Support for the Militarisation of the Police,’ Criminal Justice Studies 31, no. 2 (2018): 113–27; Bryanna Fox, Richard K. Moule, and Megan M. Parry, ‘Categorically Complex: A Latent Class Analysis of Public Perceptions of Police Militarisation,’ Journal of Criminal Justice 58 (2018): 33–46.
58 Abrahamsen, ‘Return of the Generals? Global Militarism in Africa from the Cold War to the Present’; Pendle, ‘“They Are Now Community Police”’; Rebecca Tapscott, ‘Policing Men: Militarised Masculinity, Youth Livelihoods, and Security in Conflict-Affected Northern Uganda,’ Disasters 42, no. s1 (2018): 119–39.
59 Guy Lamb, ‘Police Militarisation and the “War on Crime” in South Africa,’ Journal of Southern African Studies 44, no. 5 (2018): 933–49; Ziyanda Stuurman, ‘Policing Inequality and the Inequality of Policing: A Look at the Militarisation of Policing Around the World, Focusing on Brazil and South Africa,’ South African Journal of International Affairs 27, no. 1 (2020): 43–66; Christopher McMichael, ‘Police Wars and State Repression in South Africa,’ Journal of Asian and African Studies 51, no. 1 (2016): 3–16; Joey Berning and David Masiloane, ‘Police Militarisation: Is South Africa Disproving or Failing to Learn from Police History?,’ Acta Criminologica: Southern African Journal of Criminology 24, no. 3 (2011): 60–71; Malose Langa and Gillian Eagle, ‘The Intractability of Militarised Masculinity: A Case Study of Former Self-Defence Unit Members in the Kathorus Area, South Africa,’ South African Journal of Psychology 38, no. 1 (2008): 152–75.
60 Kismayo was selected as a case study over the capital, Mogadishu, for two reasons. First, at the time the survey data was being collected in 2019, the researchers received reports that the police in Mogadishu were becoming increasingly integrated with NISA. Because of this, residents’ experiences with the police in Mogadishu were easily conflated with their experiences with NISA and other armed institutions, making it difficult to empirically disentangle residents’ actual perceptions of the police from their perceptions of other security actors. In Kismayo, on the other hand, the police were relatively more operationally distinct from other security actors operating in the region. This allowed researcher(s) to evaluate resident's actual experiences with and perceptions of the police rather than conflating these experiences with their attitudes of other security actors operating in the region. Secondly, at the time of the survey data (June-July 2019) collection, Mogadishu had banned direct flights into the city from neighbouring territories like Kenya. This coupled with an uptick in al-Shabaab attacks in Mogadishu at the time meant that it was not possible for the researcher(s) to guarantee the safety of the enumerators in the city. These enumerators would have had to travel to multiple neighbourhoods across Mogadishu to survey residents without adequate guarantees of safety. The conditions in Kismayo were better suited to enable the type of field research needed for the study. While the researcher(s) would have also liked to collect data in Mogadishu, but it was not possible at the time.
61 Azar, Jureidini and McLaurin, ‘Protracted Social Conflict: Theory and Practice in the Middle East.’
62 Somalia Conflict Early Warning Early Response Unit (CEWERU), ‘“From the Bottom Up: Southern Regions – Perspectives through Conflict Analysis and Key Political Actors' Mapping of Gedo, Middle Juba, Lower Juba, and Lower Shabelle”,’ CEWERU (2013).
63 Oscar Gakuo Mwangi, ‘Jubaland: Somalia's New Security Dilemma and State-Building Efforts,’ Africa Review 8, no. 2 (2016): 120–32.
64 Mwangi, ‘Jubaland: Somalia's New Security Dilemma,’ 122.
65 Mwangi, ‘Jubaland: Somalia's New Security Dilemma,’ 122–3; Author, Interview with Senior Somali Think Tank Analyst based in Nairobi, July 2019.
66 Mwangi, ‘Jubaland: Somalia's New Security Dilemma.’
67 Author, Interview with Somali Think Tank Analyst based in Nairobi.
68 International Crisis Group, ‘Ending the Dangerous Standoff in Southern Somalia.’
69 International Crisis Group, ‘Ending the Dangerous Standoff in Southern Somalia’; Aljazeera, ‘Somali Troops, Jubbaland Regional Forces Clash Ahead of Elections,’ Aljazeera, January 25, 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/25/somali-troops-jubbaland-regional-forces-battle-near-kenya-border.
70 Ibid.
71 Tricia Bacon and Daisy Muibu, ‘The Domestication of Al-Shabaab,’ The Journal of the Middle East and Africa 10, no. 3 (2019): 279–305.
72 Bacon, ‘No Shortcuts to Negotiating with Al-Shabaab’; Matt Bryden and Premdeep Bahra, ‘East Africa's Terrorist Triple Helix: The Dusit Hotel Attack and the Historical Evolution of the Jihadi Threat,’ CTC Sentinel 12, no. 6 (July 2019): 1–11.
73 Bacon, ‘No Shortcuts to Negotiating with Al-Shabaab.’
74 BBC, ‘Kismayo Attack: At Least 26 Dead as Gunmen Storm Somali Hotel,’ BBC News, July 14, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48969781; Edith M. Lederer, ‘US Focused on Disrupting Finances for Somalia's Al-Shabab,’ Associated Press, October 28, 2020, https://apnews.com/article/terrorism-somalia-united-nations-3a7b0dbdf009596374179249eeb62d36.
75 Somali Affairs, ‘Jubbaland President Attends Funeral of Chamber of Commerce Official Killed in Shabaab Attack,’ Somali Affairs, September 12, 2020, https://www.somaliaffairs.com/news/jubbaland-president-attends-funeral-of-chamber-of-commerce-official-killed-in-shabaab-attack/.
76 Somali Affairs, ‘Plan to Withdraw US Soldiers Sparks Anxiety in Somalia,’ Somali Affairs, October 20, 2020, https://www.somaliaffairs.com/news/plan-to-withdraw-us-soldiers-sparks-anxiety-in-somalia/; BBC, ‘Trump Orders Withdrawal of US Troops from Somalia,’ BBC News, December 5, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55196130.
77 International Crisis Group, ‘Ending the Dangerous Standoff in Southern Somalia.’
78 Azar, Jureidini and McLaurin, ‘Protracted Social Conflict: Theory and Practice in the Middle East.’
79 UNSOM, ‘Federal Government and UN Unveil Support Programme for Somalia's New Policing Model,’ United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia, June 11, 2018, https://unsom.unmissions.org/federal-government-and-un-unveil-support-programme-somalia%E2%80%99s-new-policing-model; UNOPS, ‘The Joint Police Programme: Policing for Peace in Somalia,’ UNOPS Somalia, December 19, 2019, https://medium.com/@UNOPS_Somalia/the-joint-police-programme-policing-for-peace-in-somalia-a7a1d2a30510.
80 AMISOM, ‘A Total of 198 Somali Police Officers Graduate in Kismaayo,’ AMISOM, May 23, 2016, http://amisom-au.org/so/2016/05/a-total-of-198-somali-police-officers-graduate-in-kismaayo/; UNSOM, ‘The NPM Newsletter Edition 19,’ UNSOM, October, 2018, https://unsom.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/somalias_new_policing_model_newsletter_edition_19_october_2018.pdf
81 Sahan Foundation, ‘Perception Study: Regional Policing in Southern Somalia,’ Sahan Foundation (2020).
82 Author, Interview with Police Consultant/Mentor based in Kismayo, June 23, 2019.
83 Ibid.
84 Ken Menkhaus, ‘Governance Without Government in Somalia Spoilers, State Building, and the Politics of Coping,’ International Security 31, no. 3 (2006/7): 74–106.
85 Alice Hills, ‘What Is Policeness? On Being Police in Somalia,’ British Journal of Criminology 54 (2014): 765–83, 779.
86 Sahan Foundation, ‘Perception Study: Regional Policing in Southern Somalia.’
87 Sunshine and Tyler, ‘The Role of Procedural Justice and Legitimacy in Shaping Public Support for Policing.’
88 Kraska, ‘Militarisation and Policing—Its Relevance to 21st Century Police.’
89 Specifically, the following four questions were used to capture views on the four dimensions of police militarisation: (1) Material: ‘Do you believe the Jubbaland police force in Kismayo possess military technology such as automatic weapons, armoured vehicles, night vision equipment etc?’; (2) Cultural: ‘Do you believe the Jubbaland police force in Kismayo dress in military uniforms like an army or hold values and beliefs similar to an army?’; (3) Organisational: ‘Do you believe the Jubbaland police force in Kismayo regularly rely on elite units like the Daraawish to maintain security, law and order?’; (4) Operational: ‘Do you believe the Jubbaland police force operate like the army, for example in intelligence gathering, supervision, and/or surveillance activities?’
90 Pryce, ‘The Relative Effects of Normative and Instrumental Models of Policing on Police Empowerment.’
91 Justice Tankebe, ‘Public Cooperation with the Police in Ghana: Does Procedural Fairness Matter?’ Criminology 47 (2009): 701–30.
92 The results show that the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was 0.6479, confirming the appropriateness of the data for this analysis.
93 See Sunshine and Tyler, ‘The Role of Procedural Justice and Legitimacy in Shaping Public Support for Policing’; Pryce, ‘The Relative Effects of Normative and Instrumental Models of Policing on Police Empowerment.’
94 David H. Bayley and Robert Perito, The Police in War: Fighting Insurgency, Terrorism, and Violent Crime (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc., 2010).
95 Bruce Baker, ‘Policing for Conflict Zones: What Have Local Policing Groups Taught Us?,’ Stability: International Journal of Security & Development 6, no. 1 (2017): 1–16; Menkhaus, ‘Governance Without Government in Somalia Spoilers, State Building, and the Politics of Coping.’
96 Author, Interview with Resident A, June 24, 2019; Author, Interview with Resident B, June 23, 2019.
97 Author, Interview with Resident B; Author, Interview with Police Consultant/Mentor based in Kismayo; Author, Interview with Police Consultant/Mentor based in Kismayo, July 9, 2020; Author, Interview with Resident A.
98 Author, Interview with Police Consultant/Mentor based in Kismayo.
99 Author, Interview with Resident A.
100 Author, Interview with Senior AMISOM Police Official based in Kismayo, June 23, 2019; Author, Interview with Resident A.
101 Mummolo, ‘Militarisation Fails to Enhance Police Safety or Reduce Crime But May Harm Police Reputation.’
102 Carriere and Encinosa, ‘The Risks of Operational Militarisation.’
103 The Velcro effect refers to a theory that suffests that the threat of a weapon matters more than its actual use in deterring resistance. For example, the sound of pepper spray being removed from its Velcro could be enough of a deterrent to stop resisting.
104 Buttle, ‘Unravelling the “Velcro Effect”’; Bove and Gavrilova, ‘Police Officer on the Frontline or a Soldier?’
105 Gallup, ‘Confidence in Institutions,’ Gallup, 2019, https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx.
106 Author, Interview with Police Consultant/Mentor based in Kismayo.
107 Bittner, The Functions of Police in Modern Society.
108 Waddington, ‘Towards Paramilitarism? Dilemmas in Policing Civil Disorder’; Waddington, ‘The Case Against Paramilitary Policing Considered.’
109 Author, Interview with Police Consultant/Mentor based in Kismayo.
110 Bittner, The Functions of Police in Modern Society.
111 Author, Interview with Police Consultant/Mentor based in Kismayo; Author, Interview with Senior Somali Analysts based in Nairobi and Southern Somalia A, March 23, 2020.
112 Matthew J. Nanes, ‘Policing in Divided Societies: Officer Inclusion, Citizen Cooperation, and Crime Prevention,’ Conflict Management and Peace Studies 37, no. 5 (2020): 580–604.
113 Badi Hasisi and Ronald Weitzer, ‘Police Relations with Arabs and Jews in Israel,’ British Journal of Criminology 47 (2007): 728–45, 728.
114 Nanes, ‘Policing in Divided Societies.’
115 Author, Interview with Somali Think Tank Analyst based in Nairobi.
116 Ibid.
117 Nanes, ‘Policing in Divided Societies’; Hasisi and Weitzer, ‘Police Relations with Arabs and Jews in Israel.’
118 Kenneth J. Meier and Daniel P. Hawes, ‘Ethnic Conflict in France A Case for Representative Bureaucracy?,’ The American Review of Public Administration 39, no. 3 (2009): 269–85.
119 David M. Anderson and Jacob McKnight, ‘Kenya at War: Al-Shabaab and Its Enemies in Eastern Africa,’ African Affairs 114, no. 454 (2015): 1–27; Clar NiChonghaile, ‘Kenyan Troops Launch Beach Assault on Somali City of Kismayo,’ The Guardian, September 28, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/28/kenyan-soldiers-capture-kismayo-somalia.
120 Author, Interview with Resident B; Author, Interview with Senior U.S Government Research Fellow, June 9, 2019; Author, Interview with Think Tank Analyst, May 29, 2019.
121 Author, Interview with Senior U.S Government Research Fellow.
122 Author, Interview with Senior Somali Analysts based in Nairobi and Southern Somalia A; Author, Senior Think Tank Analyst based in Nairobi, July 10, 2019.
123 Other clans with less than 5% representation within the force include the Awrmale, Ashraaf, Awrtable, Bajuni, Digil, Dir, Geri, Ogaadeen, Leelkase, Rahanweyn, Wardei and other Kumade clans.
124 Nanes, ‘Policing in Divided Societies,’ 581; Ronald Weitzer and Badi Hasisi, ‘Does Ethnic Composition Make a Difference? Citizens’ Assessments of Arab Police Officers in Israel,’ Policing & Society 18, no. 4 (2008): 362–76, 363.
125 Ronald Weitzer and Steven A. Tuck, ‘Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct,’ Social Problems 51, no. 2 (2004): 305–25.
126 Daniel M. Gade and Vicky M. Wilkins, ‘Where Did You Serve? Veteran Identity, Representative Bureaucracy, and Vocational Rehabilitation,’ Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 23 (2013): 267–88; Norma M. Riccucci, Gregg G Van Ryzin, and Karima Jackson, ‘Representative Bureaucracy, Race, and Policing: A Survey Experiment,’ Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 28, no. 4 (2013): 506–18; Norma M. Riccucci, Gregg G. Van Ryzin, and Cecilia F. Lavena, ‘Representative Bureaucracy in Policing: Does It Increase Perceived Legitimacy?’ Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 24, no. 3 (2014): 537–51.
127 Michael Brogden and Clifford D. Shearing, Policing for a New South Africa. (London: Routledge, 1993); John D. Brewer, Black and Blue: Policing in South Africa (Clarendon: Oxford, 1994); Ronald Weitzer, Policing under Fire: Ethnic Conflict and Police – Minority Relations in Northern Ireland (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1995).
128 Andrew Goldsmith, ‘Policing Weak States: Citizen Safety and State Responsibility,’ Policing and Society 13, no. 1 (2003): 3–21.
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Daisy Muibu
Dr Daisy Muibu is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Her research is focused on policing and counterinsurgency from a variety of perspectives that include: police legitimacy and local law enforcement responses to terrorism; citizen perceptions towards police and paramilitary forces; and the role of foreign fighters within insurgent groups. Dr Muibu received her PhD in Justice, Law and Criminology from the American University in Washington DC, and her MA in Intelligence and International Security from King's College London.