Community-Oriented Policing Strategies (COPS) in the Sahel

Strategic Capacity Group (SCG) has delivered two Community-Oriented Policing Strategies (COPS) projects in the Sahel. The first project was a regional, multi-country project implemented in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. The second project extended support for SCG’s work in Senegal.

Strategic Capacity Group has delivered two Community-Oriented Policing Strategies (COPS) projects in the Sahel for the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). The first project (2019-2022) was a regional, multi-country project implemented in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. SCG supported police, gendarmerie, and civilian law enforcement institutions to implement community-oriented policing initiatives to reduce crime, improve service provision, and increase trust between law enforcement organizations and the communities they serve.  

The second project (2023-2025) was implemented in Senegal to assist the Ministry of Interior and Public Security scale and institutionalize effective public security service governance and delivery across Senegal as part of Senegal’s five-year national action plan (2024-2028). SCG worked with Senegalese Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior and Public Security, including its Directorates for Territorial Administration, and supported the leadership of the National Police, the National Gendarmerie, and the Agence d'Assistance à la Sécurité de Proximité (ASP) to develop policy guidance and an operational framework for collaborative community security, including the promotion of community-oriented policing. SCG advised their respective operations, training, human resources, and communications departments on formulating policy and procedural manuals, and operational guidelines for the design and execution of collaborative security principles and practices on the ground. SCG also developed and delivered training to build the capacity of the three agencies to improve local security governance across Senegal’s territorial administration levels. SCG’s strategic planning, advisory, and technical assistance supported:

• The formation of a national community-oriented policing policy, accompanying doctrine, a national implementation plan, and a training and capacity building plan.  

• The National Police School and the National Police HR Department to deliver nation-wide pre- and in-service training on community policing.  

• The building of community level Citizen Advisory Committees (CACs) comprised of civil society representatives, local elected officials, and law enforcement representatives. These inclusive platforms provided a mechanism to discuss, prioritize, and address community security needs and to collaboratively develop memorandums of understanding in terms of developing and executing collaborative action plans.  

• The design and execution of a comprehensive strategic communication plan to increase awareness and buy-in.  

The pivotal role and impact of CACs to gather members of local communities, including neighborhood leaders and youth organizations, to work collaboratively with Senegalese law enforcement and local administration was acknowledged by municipal and mayoral decrees officially formalizing their structure. Just prior to the project conclusion, SCG supported the design and execution of a successful national validation workshop chaired by the Ministry of Interior and Public Security on 16 December 2024.  The workshop served to finalize and announce the new national community policing policy doctrine and a new operational plan toward policing and the provision of public security delivery and governance. It also profiled a new approach and stronger ability to detect, deter, prevent, and otherwise respond to localized and transnational crime and regional acts of terrorism and violent extremism.

SCG is a non-profit dedicated to enhancing the ability of the United States and its partners to build strategic security sector capacity both at home and abroad. SCG assists donor and recipient governments to assess institutional capacity, identify gaps, develop and implement solutions, and improve the sustainability and impact of reform.  

SCG’s Security Sector Reform Program aims to build human and institutional capacity for effective and accountable security sector forces and institutions. SCG’s work is conducted through:

• Sharing security sector best practices through national and regional SSR platforms

• Producing assessments of security sector capacity, identifying gaps, and developing strategic policy and programmatic recommendations;

• Training and educating donors to design and implement SSR programs and local stakeholders to design, implement, and advocate for reform within their governments; and

• Advising governments and donor organizations to conceptualize SSR programs and build capacity to implement them.