More police could just be more corruption unless....

On Friday, the Delegate General for National Security, Martin Mbarga Nguele, announced that “the annual recruitment of 2,500 police officers decided in 2021 by the President of the Republic for a period of five uninterruptable years, will continue this year till 2025”.

For this year's recruitment, he said the deadline for the deposit of files is fixed for February 17. Against speculations that admissions are often done through corruption, he cautioned candidates that: “I want to remind them, as well as their parents, that there is no ‘connection’ within the National Security and admission into the police is based on merit and merit only”.

The Guardian Post is delighted to hear the Delegate General for National Security warn against corruption in the admission process of the police force, whose numbers are being swelled into the public service while others like teachers are being slashed.

We understand the need to increase the force by 2,500 every year for five years that is a total of 12,500 police personnel, which can be explained by increasing insecurity and crimes in the country.

But keeping Cameroonians and their properties safe goes beyond increasing the number of policemen and women. We recognise the crucial role of the police in keeping law and order in society, and as former US president, Barack Obama, once said, "police officers put their lives on the line for us every single day. They've got a tough job to do to maintain public safety and hold accountable those who break the law".

That is the universal duty of the police applicable to every country. Can the Cameroon police force swear they sincerely fit into that mould?

A survey conducted late last year by the Association for Community Development in Cameroon, ADECAM, in almost all sectors of society, identified the police as the most corrupt institution in the country.

Other organisations such as Transparency International and the United States annual human rights reports also put the Cameroon police on the front bench of the corruption league.

The police boss is not unaware of the poor rating, which at one point a "police de police" was created. But nothing seems to have changed.

In announcing the recruitment of more officers, the Delegate General explained that the Head of State, President Paul Biya, was committed to ameliorating their working conditions throughout the national territory.

“In line with improving the working conditions of personnel, the rehabilitation of police units will be intensified in the coming months,” he stated.

He indicated that within the same move of the progressive renewal, they will also acquire more personal protective gears adapted to the evolution of security challenges. He further explained that “actions for the modernisation of the police force decided by public authorities, translates to the strong resolve of the President of the Republic to reinforce the public security of our beloved country and put the police up to date with the contemporary security challenges”.

Mbarga Nguele, however, stressed that the efforts have to be supported by a citizen police engaged in constructing social cohesion daily.

“As a result, I exalt you the entire police corps to continue at each given opportunity to fulfill this great mission with honour, devotion and fidelity, loyalty, impartiality and integrity, and effectively in conformity with the rules and regulations of the republic,” he added.

He called on police officers to continue to preserve public order and fight against trafficking, drug consumptions and other deviant acts.

To achieve those envisaged positive results goes beyond increasing numbers of men in uniform. The key is quality of training as well as the background of those who are recruited. If thieves and scammers are recruited into the force, is there any guarantee that they will not just use the uniform to upgrade the level of their criminality? Are background checks done, as it used to be in the good old days of former West Cameroon before youth were recruited in the force?

How effective and modern is their training, especially as in regards to respect of human rights when there have been frequent and vexing complaints of suspects being tortured at police stations to get statements while they are under duress?

Even though recruitment will be by "merit", what mechanism is being put in place to ensure national balance, given that in most cases people of the North West and South West regions have complained of not having a fair share commensurate to their population?

We hope the Delegate General takes our concerns into serious consideration when recruiting the next batch of youth into the police college. This will ensure that at the end of their training, the country can have police personnel who are not mocked by the population as "mange mille" or "mbelle khaki", but a citizen police trained to cordially collaborate with the public to keep peace and order in society.