South Sudan Police graduates taking oath at Juba National Stadium in 2018 - Credit | Eye Radio |

The Ministry of Interior has embarked on community policing to improve security in the country, the Director of Planning and Research has said.

Maj.-Gen. Zachariah Stephane Warkoth is leading a team from the ministry of interior to access community policing in all states.

Community policing is a model that focuses on building relationships and collaborating with those they protect and serve.

Gen Warkoth told Eye Radio from Aweil in Northern Bahr El Ghazal on Thursday that the objective of the visit is to review existing community policing structures.

“The main objective of visiting the states is to review the existing community policing in the state to help maintain the security and safety of the community,” said Gen Warkoth.

Gen Warkoth stated that the new community policing structure will be headed by local chief or community leader.

He says in the past, the community policing has been headed by a senior police officer, a strategy he says was hard for the community to report crimes to the police.

“In the past, the police were in command but from now on, the community policing will be led by chief and community leader, the police will be there to facilitate,” Gen. Warkoth told Eye Radio from Aweil.

“The Community Policing is aimed at enhancing cooperation between the police and the community to fight the crime because the police alone cannot fight crime.”

He says they are training citizens on how to report the crime to police without exposing them to criminals.

“We know very well that some are afraid of reporting these crimes. We will train people on how to report safely. We will train the police on how to respond quickly to reports.”

Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the systematic use of partnerships.

It’s also another way of problem-solving techniques to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder and fear of crime.