Law Enforcement In Liberia
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The Liberian National Police is the national
police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
force in
Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
. The LNP's mandate is: *To maintain public order and safety; *To protect people and property; *To identify and recover lost and stolen property; * To prevent, detect and fight crime; * To identify and arrest criminals; *To enforce the law and testify in court.


History

After the Second Liberian Civil War, rebuilding the police began in 2004. The Police component of
UNMIL The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was a peacekeeping operation established in September 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia following the resignation of President Charles Taylor and the conclusion of the Second Liberia ...
(UNPOL) registered 5,000 people who claimed to be members of the LNP. Some had no uniforms, and none had been paid for the past few years. They had survived mostly from extracting bribes from the public. Only the traffic division had smart uniforms and could be seen on duty, as their position made it easier to impose spurious fines on motorists. According to Friedman (2011), UNPOL and Liberian police leaders, through the Rule of Law Implementation Committee, then "recruited and deployed an initial interim force of 400 former local police officers to work alongside UNPOL in its efforts to drive out former combatants and reclaim police stations in Monrovia. They also implemented UN Quick Impact Projects which included the reopening of police sub-stations, taking over roadblocks, and constructing new mini-stations." The
International Crisis Group The International Crisis Group (ICG; also known as the Crisis Group) is a transnational non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1995. It is a think tank, used by policymakers and academics, performing research and analysis on global ...
wrote in 2011 that 'Over 4,000 officers have been trained, including the armed Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and the specialised Police Support Unit (PSU). 623 (15 per cent) of these officers are women. At a ratio to population of 1:850 and with 65-70 per cent deployed in Montserrado county alone, there are clearly not enough officers to cover the whole country. The ERU, set up in 2008 to combat spiralling armed robbery, is functional and appears efficient, though based on revised needs assessments, it has only 344 officers instead of the originally targeted 500. The PSU is meant to have 600 members by December.'


Departments

The LNP is made up of five Departments: Administration; Operations; Training. & Manpower Development; Crime Services and Professional Standards The Liberian Criminal Justice System site says that the Administration and Operations s consist of: *Administration Section **i. Personnel **ii. Finance **iii. Records and Identification **iv. The Public Affair Division – Board of Investigation, Band Unit, Chaplain & Court Liaison **v. Logistics **vi. Communication **vii. Planning & Research – Central Statistics Unit, Drafting *Operations – Largest and the most important section **i. Patrol **ii. Criminal Investigation Division **iii. Criminal Intelligent Unit **iv. Interpol **v. Public Safety **vi. Motor Vehicle **vii. Emergency Response Unit **viii. Police Support Unit **ix. Women and Children Protection Unit For policing purposes, Liberia is divided into five geographic areas. They are: 1. Region one – Montserrado, Margibi, and Grand Bassa Counties 2. Region two – Bomi, Grand Cape Mount, and Gbarpolu Counties 3. Region three – Bong, Nimba, and Lofa counties 4. Region four – Sinoe, Grand Gedeh, and River Cess Counties 5. Region five – River Gee, Maryland, Grand Kru Counties.
INTERPOL The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
states that "With more than 4,100 police officers in 151 police stations across the country, the Liberian National Police (LNP) has responsibility for Liberian internal security and criminal investigations." The Liberian National Police have 844 officers spread across 33 stations in
Montserrado County Montserrado County is a county in the northwestern portion of the West African nation of Liberia containing its national capital, Monrovia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has 17 sub p ...
, which contains the capital
Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...
, as of October 2007. * Training The National Police Training Academy (LNPTA) is in Montserrado County in Paynesville City. It is headed by a Commander with three deputy commanders: *1. Administration *2. Training and Research *3. Curriculum Development The Training Academy trains all members of the Liberia National Police in various phrases of law enforcement and crime prevention and investigation. It is also responsible to train members of the other law enforcement agencies such as Special Security Service, Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, National Fire Service, Drugs Enforcement Agency, etc. Despite a national goal to raise police strength to 8,000, the impact of earlier delays in recruitment and the suspension of training during the
West African Ebola virus epidemic The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in Western Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and S ...
make it unlikely that it will go much higher than 5000 men and women by mid 2016.


Leadership

In September 2016, Police Director Chris Massaquoi was succeeded by Gregory Coleman. Also appointed was Abraham Kromah, as deputy. Both had new titles in accordance with the National Police Act currently before the House, as Inspector General and Deputy Inspector General. Kromah's appointment drew particular comment. Kromah was a nephew and an aide of
Alhaji Kromah Alhaji Garxim Varmuyan Kromah (11 February 1953 – 18 January 2022) was a Liberian journalist, writer, politician, and former warlord and leader of the ULIMO faction during the Liberian Civil War. He was a moderate Muslim from Liberia and memb ...
, leader of
ULIMO-K The United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) was an anti-rebel group that participated in the First Liberian Civil War (1989–1996). ULIMO was formed in May 1991 by Krahn and Mandingo refugees and soldiers who had fought in t ...
, and was associated with ULIMO during the First Liberian Civil War. He said that in 1990 he was an active member of the Student Unification Party on the
University of Liberia The University of Liberia (UL or LU in older versions of abbreviation) is a publicly funded institution of higher learning located in Monrovia, Liberia. Authorized by the national government in 1851, the university opened in 1862 as Liberia Coll ...
campus. During the interim rule of the Council of State in 1996, he was appointed as Chief of Staff of the
Armed Forces of Liberia The Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) are the armed forces of the Republic of Liberia. Tracing its origins to a militia that was formed by the first black colonists in what is now Liberia, it was founded as the Liberian Frontier Force in 1908, and r ...
. He was appointed as deputy director of the LNP, with responsibility for operations, by
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born Ellen Eugenia Johnson, 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Monro ...
, but in May 2015 he was dismissed, along with two other senior LNP officers, without a public reason being given. He had had a serious rift with commercial motorcyclists while in the position.


See also

*
Crime in Liberia Crime in Liberia is investigated by the Liberian police. Crime by type Murder According to the country's official criminal justice statistics, Liberia had a murder rate of 3.23 per 100,000 population in 2012. Because of a lack of reliable ...
*
Drug Enforcement Agency The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is an agency within the Liberian government charged with fighting drug-related crimes.Manpower Analysis of the Liberian National Police, 1966
*Princeton University
Building Civilian Police Capability, Post-Conflict Liberia, 2003-11
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Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...