APCOF

Symposium on Policing and Violence Prevention

The symposium on Policing and Violence Prevention brought together police practitioners and researchers from around the world, including from 20 African nations, to explore innovative ways to better contain and prevent violence. The symposium coincided with the World Health Organisations 5th Milestones Global Campaign for Violence Prevention and provided an opportunity for the first time to involve an expanded police participation in the Global Campaign.

Conference on police reform in West Africa

The report provides observations and reflections on police reform in West Africa based on a conference hosted by the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF), the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), the Cleen Foundation and Open Society Initiative West Africa (OSIWA) in Dakar, Senegal on Police Reform in Francophone Africa and on Police and Human Rights in West Africa. The discussions took place on 24 - 27 November 2010

SARPCCO Code of Conduct Workshop

The African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) in partnership with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and with funding support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) hosted workshop to discuss the application of the Southern Africa Police Commissioners Cooperation Organisation (SARPCCO) Code of Conduct and explore means to deepen its implementation.

The African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) is a network of African practitioners active in policing reform and civilian oversight over policing in Africa.

It believes that the broad values behind the establishment of civilian oversight are to assist in restoring public confidence, develop a culture of human rights, integrity and transparency within the police and promote a good working relationship between the police and the community. It achieves its goal through raising awareness, sharing information on police oversight and providing technical assistance to civil society, police and police oversight bodies in Africa.

APCOF utilizes the expertise of its membership to promote learning and networking on the continent. It is actively engaged in country reform projects, regional dialogues, and is working at a continental level to prioritize police reform.

APCOF was created in 2004. Its members are drawn from state and non state institutions.

The objectives of APCOF are to:

Create and sustain public confidence in police
Develop a culture of human rights, integrity, transparency and accountability within the police
Promote a good working relationships between the police and the community

APCOF works on a range of issues such as:

Promoting fair treatment of citizens by police agencies on the continent
Exchange of information on better practices among oversight bodies
Promoting the establishment of police oversight bodies where they do not currently exist
Standard setting for policing and civilian oversight bodies in Africa
Encouraging and supporting the formation of regional networks to promote police reform
Supporting local reform initiatives at promoting civilian police oversight

The current directors of APCOF reflect the continental expertise from both state and civil society in promoting policing reform.

Florence Simbiri - Jaoko, Chairperson, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Kenya
Prof Etannibi Alemika, Chair Criminology, Department of Sociology University of Jos, Nigeria
Edith Kibalama, Executive Director, East Africa Centre for Constitutional Development, Uganda
Innocent Chukwuma, Executive Director, Cleen (Center for Law Enforcement Education Network), Nigeria
Dr Otive Igbuzor, Police Service Commission, Nigeria
Mathews Sesoko, Provincial Head, Independent Complaints Directorate, South Africa
Tommy Tshabalala, Head of Investigations, Independent Complaints Directorate, South Africa
Ababacar Ndiaye, Project Officer, Senegalese Commission on Human Rights, Senegal
Amir Suliman, African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, Sudan
Tito Rutaremara, Ombudsman, Office of the Ombudsman, Rwanda
Prof Elrena vd Spuy, Centre for Criminology Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Amina Bouayach, Presedient Assocation of Moroccan Human Rights NGOs, Morocco
Sean Tait, Coordinator

Recent achievements include.

2006 -Lobbying for the adoption of a resolution on Police Reform, Accountability and Civilian Police Oversight In Africa, adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights at its 40th Ordinary Session held in Banjul, The Gambia from 15 – 29 November 2006.
2006- Establishing a network on police reform in West Africa
2007-08 - Undertaking audits of policing oversight in Africa
2009-10 -Support to nascent networks on police reform in East and Southern Africa
2009 -Support to police reform initiatives in Kenya and Uganda
2009-working with the East African Police Commissioners Coordinating Committee (EAPCCO) and the East African Community to articulate common standards for policing in the East Africa Community.
2010-Developing monitoring indicators for the Southern African Police Commissioners Coordinating Committee (SARPCCO)
2011 - Developing a training material of investigative skills for independent police oversight

This website is a collaboration between African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) and the Centre of Criminology, Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town. It is a virtual resource which provides access to information relevant to public police and its reform in Africa.

The website has a specific focus on issues of police accountability. The aim of the website is to make readily accessible resources on Africa's public police. Such resources include: relevant agreements, legislation, policy documents, publications on country specific police organisations, conference proceedings and some crime information and are listed under a searchable data base on the countries tab.