Ibrahim Idris

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Police Operations Coordinator and Officer in Charge, United Nations Mission in Liberia

Focus: Accountable Policing

Topics: Recruitment, Training

Keywords: language, reform sequencing, external accountability, corruption, internal management, integration and amalgamation, donor relations, UN policies, information sources, private security, depoliticization, recruitment, media relations, vetting, local police training, training curriculum

Interviewer(s): Arthur Boutellis

Country of Reform: Liberia

Location: Monrovia, Liberia

Date: Wed May 14 2008

Abstract

Ibrahim Idris, the deputy commissioner of the Nigerian police, recounts his experience working in the United Nations mission in Liberia as it relates to police reforms. He explains how the Liberian National Police was disorganized after the war. The U.N. Police deactivated the national police, opened a police academy and built more police stations throughout the country. Idris states that the initial focus was on individual capacity development. He describes recruitment, vetting and training processes. He identifies gender challenges, as women tended to be less educated and less represented in the national police. Hence, the U.N. set up a special education program for women who wanted to join the police service. Idris explains that the U.N. later concentrated on institutional development, which involved depoliticization, management and leadership, technical specialization and the creation of legal documents like the Police Act and the duty manual. He also discusses the role of establishing an external oversight body and strengthening Police Community Forums in fostering police accountability.

Case Study: Building Civilian Police Capacity: Post-Conflict Liberia, 2003-2011

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Idriss Ibriham Interview

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At the time of this interview, Ibrahim Idris was a United Nations police operations coordinator and the officer in charge of the U.N. mission in Liberia. He arrived in Liberia in 2004 as a U.N. police adviser. In his homeland of Nigeria, he was the deputy commissioner of police. He joined the Nigerian police service in 1984 as a cadet officer. He later served as a crime and traffic officer. In 1987, he transferred to the Police Mobile Force, a special unit that dealt with riot control and anti-insurgency operations. He served as the commandant of the Mobile Police Training School from 1998 to 2004.

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