Publication:

Police-Citizen Collaboration on Security Enhancement in Gasabo District, Rwanda

In Rwanda, the security situation was critical after the 1994 genocide against Tutsi, and the government implemented mechanisms such as community po- licing as a strategy to improve security. Yet, despite the introduction of community police, the country still grapples with insecurity. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of police-citizen collaboration on security enhancement in Gasabo District, Rwanda. The study adopted mixed methodology approach and the concurrent triangulation design. The study targeted approximately 139,358 household heads of Gasabo District, 73 Com- munity Policing Committee (CPC) chairpersons, 15 Community Liaison Of- ficers, and 260 Police Officers. The study sampled 576 household heads for quantitative data whereas the CPC chairpersons, Community Liaison Offic- ers, Police Officers and Opinion leaders were used for qualitative data. Mul- tistage sampling technique was used to select the participants. Questionnaire, interview guides and discussion guides were used to collect data. The findings indicated that police-citizen collaboration had a positive and significant in- fluence on security enhancement. The study concluded that police-citizen collaboration contributes significantly to security enhancement in Gasabo District, Rwanda. The study recommended the need for RNP to strengthen the police-citizen collaboration for security enhancement. In particular, the institution should focus on enhancing the following police-citizen collabora- tion aspects: community works (Umuganda), coordination mechanism be- tween police and community, forums to discuss crime issues between the community and police, and trust between the police and the community.