ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an analysis of the internationally-driven police reform process, and the challenges that the international donor-community faced vis-a-vis the political agenda of the Frelimo government and the state of policing in the country at the end of the war. Civilian community police members in Mozambique have at least as far as popular perceptions are concerned contributed more to the reduction in crime than the state police have. Such perceptions may seem surprising given the fact that the many millions of dollars that the international community has spent on post-war police reform in Mozambique since 1997 have not covered community policing. The chapter examines the internationally supported police reform process in post-war Mozambique since the mid-1990s, which in fact adhered to the 'professional policing model'. It illustrates not only were the civilian community police used to boost state police authority and to reproduce extra-legal police practices, they also became subject to frequent politicisation by the ruling party.
