ABSTRACT
The police have extra powers meant to assist them to undertake their duties as watchers of the city (Reiner 2012). Most often, there is the miscarriage of justice and corruption perpetrated by this corps with its resultant consequences. This chapter provides a critical analysis of the nature and extent of
General Information on the Cameroon Police ............................................... 126 Nature and Extent of Police Corruption in Cameroon ................................. 126
Extortion of Money at Police Checkpoints ................................................ 127 Arbitrary Arrests and Detention ................................................................. 127 Torture as a Tool of Extortion ...................................................................... 128 Sexual Assault Associated with Extortion .................................................. 128 Payment to Register a Case .......................................................................... 129 Transportation and Other Logistics “Fees” ................................................ 129 Police Extortion and Other Abuses in the Informal Sector ..................... 130 Police Corruption and the Rule of Law ...................................................... 130 High-Level Embezzlement of Police Funds ................................................131 Corrupt System of Monetary “Returns” ..................................................... 132 Police Protection for Sale .............................................................................. 133 Selection and Vetting of Entrants (Recruitment) ...................................... 133 Appointment and Tenure of Office for Senior Leadership ....................... 134
Police Reforms in Cameroon ............................................................................ 134 Improvement of the Conditions and Welfare of the Police ...................... 135 Initiatives at the Level of Democratic Policing .......................................... 135 Community Engagement and the Role of the Civil Society Groups ...... 136 Oversight Bodies ............................................................................................ 136 Creation of New Institutional Structures ................................................... 137 Parallel Reforms ............................................................................................. 137 Zero Tolerance for Corruption and Police Brutality ................................. 138
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 138 References ............................................................................................................ 139
police corruption and misconduct in Cameroon and examines and analyzes the police reforms that have either been embarked upon or that are imperative to control and mitigate the deleterious effects of this malpractice and misconduct among the police corps. Before delving into the discussion, it is necessary to define the concepts of “police” and “policing” as applied in this chapter. Police corruption is well defined and analyzed in Chapter 1 of this volume.
