The relationship between police and the public in formerly colonised
countries of Africa has never been smooth. It is plagued with clichés of
suspicion, mistrust, and brutality which are all a result of the legacy
of draconian policing in colonial Africa. This colonial hangover has
chiefly been an upshot of sluggish switching from the mantra of colonial
policing to community progressive policing advocated in democratic
societies. This book, the result of five years of ethnographic and
library research on the interaction and relationships between police and
members of the public in Zimbabwe, is a clarion call for a generative
progressive working together between the police and the public for a
peaceful and orderly society. While it traces the historical trends and
nature of policing in Africa and in particular Zimbabwe, the book
demonstrates how law, morality and policing enrich one another. The book
offers critical insights in the interpretation of contemporary policing
in Zimbabwe with a view to inform and draw lessons for both police and
the public. It should be of interest not only to legal anthropologists
but also political scientists, members of the public, police
instructors, police officers, and students and educators in academic
disciplines such as criminal justice, criminology, law, sociology,
African studies, and leadership and conflict management.
