ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the potential for partnerships between police and communities to improve local security and enhance policing through a case study of community policing (CP) reforms in the city of Mwanza, Tanzania. The Tanzania Police Force (TPF) officially adopted community policing, translated into Kiswahili as polisi jamii or ulinzi shirikishi, in 2006 as part of a broader program of police reform. The chapter considers the rationale for co-production of security through police-community partnerships. It also addresses the impact of partnership between community-based institutions and the police on outcomes, and suggests that police objectives for CP have emphasized cost-effectiveness and a reduction of police workload, rather than a reorientation of policing in line with community priorities. There has been considerable criticism of attempts by donors to impose uniform models of CP with a disregard for local context. CP is organized under the auspices of the mitaa, or sub-ward, governments, which form the lowest level of urban administration in Tanzania.
