The National Police of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) originates from a fusion of four former police forces and the integration of some rebel fractions in 2002 following the Sun City Peace Treaty of 2002. This police is currently regulated by the police law of 2002 (law-decree N°002/2002 26 January 2002) while a new law should be passed soon by the parliament. The official numbers of the police is approximately 103'000 personnel for a population estimated 68 millions citizens.

The reform process of the National Congolese Police (NCP) started in 2004 and resulted on 14 November 2005 in the establishment of a Joint Assessment Group on Reform and Reorganisation of the National Congolese Police (GMRRR or Group thereafter). The Group was composed by national experts of the NCP and international experts from countries supporting the police reform in DRC. Among the Group's pressing recommendations stand the principle of a territorial reorganisation of the national Police enabling it to «respond to the needs of peace and order of the citizens» and the political will to transform the NCP into a community police.

At the occasion of a workshop held for 24 to 27 of April 2007, participants from government, parliament, the NCP, the media and the civil society as well as  foreign representations and international partners debated  the conclusions of the Group and reaffirmed strongly their commitment to the vision of « A national public service accessible and responding to civilians, being professional, single,  politically neutral, under supervision of a civilian authority, respecting human rights, as well as the national, regional and international judicial obligations» (Final report of the national workshop).

In September 2007, the Executive Secretariat if the Police Reform Committee (CSRP) was established under the leadership of an Executive Secretary designated by the Minister of Interior. The CSRP was entrusted with the conception of all fundamental documents of the reform, to define its action plan and to guarantee the implementation of the evaluation.

One of the documents that was technically supported by Coginta on a UNDP assignment has been the new doctrine of community policing (see text box). In 2009, we worked directly with the "Groupe Organisation" of the Police Reform Committee to support the design process of the doctrine. The doctrine became a twin document of the design of a first-line police station that had already been conceived by the Groupe Organisation. The doctrine was elaborated by this Group which was composed by senior officers of the National Police of Congo, European Police Mission experts, United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC) experts, and the document was discussed in plenum of the CSPR during a workshop. The process included further consultations with the National Police and paralleled a debated led by civil society. The design process had started in June 2009 and was successfully concluded in June 2010 with the adoption of the doctrine by the highest authority of the National Police and the Steering Committee of the CSRP in June 2010.

Among the motivation to introduce the principles of community policing in the NCP have been 1) a weak territorial presence of the NCP especially in the eastern regions, 2) the absence of consulting procedures allowing the citizens to participate in the setting of the police agenda at the local level, as well as 3) a police emphasizing on repression and missing instruments to resolve problems or preventing delinquency.

The doctrine formulated by the CSRP for the national police is articulated around 6 heading principles called the 3 « P » and the 3 « R » of community policing in Congo (see text box).

Constituting the backbone of the community police, the Local Security Council (CLS) is a consulting body at the level of the decentralized territorial entities (ETD) with the aim to provide a consultation channel between the authorities, the civil society and the police concerning priority action at local level to fight insecurity. According to the vision of the Congolese Police Law, the deconcentration of police services follows the political decentralisation process and the CLS shall act as an interface between the deconcentrated police, the elected authorities and the population.

At the micro level of police stations, the community policing will implemented by neighbourhood police teams. These officers will have been trained in methods of conflict management, problem resolution as well as the assistance to citizens and victim. The community police, according to doctrine, will not be a specialized department of the NCP. The intention is to ensure that all police agents working in the field police stations carry out the philosophy of community policing. The local police stations will include furthermore specialized judiciary police services to handle cases of sexual violence and cased involving children (minor).