Feedback Mechanism to Build Accountability of the LNP (LR0031)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address?: The Liberia National Police (LNP) plays a critical role in enforcing the rule of law, but the actions of the police themselves often undermine that law. As a result, trust in the police declines and criminality proliferates, as do extra-judicial responses to criminal behaviors.; What is the commitment?: The commitment will establish a variety of tools and information dissemination modalities to build trust in the police, report infractions and build evidence-based trust in the police force.; How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?: These efforts will make data related to the Liberian police more transparent, accessible and useful for citizens. It will also allow them to report the police when they see the law being broken by the police force. These efforts will support greater trust in the system and, over time, the effectiveness of the LNP.; Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?: Access to information and data about rules, procedures and measures of core activities of the criminal justice system is one of the most powerful ways to protect against corruption and mismanagement in police forces, support more informed discussion of operational approaches, and improve public perception and trust of the police.

5. Implement a Feedback Mechanism to Build Accountability of the LNP

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

"The commitment will establish a variety of tools and information dissemination modalities to build trust in the police, report infractions and build evidence-based trust in the police force.

"These efforts will make data related to the Liberian police more transparent, accessible and useful for citizens. It will also allow them to report the police when they see the law being broken by the police force. These efforts will support greater trust in the system and, over time, the effectiveness of the LNP."

Milestones:

1. Establish free, public hotline for complaints and commendations for the LNP
2. Establish a task force of MOJ and CSO partners to understand police and public safety information currently being collected, to identify information gatekeepers and the current format(s) of data.
3. Design and develop a plan to collect and process high-priority public safety and police information and statistics for publication online on the LNP website
4. Provide data on crime, accidents and LNP activities through the existing open data portal
5. Create brochures for citizens with information about the role of the LNP, indicating their rights in relation to the LNP and the procedures for inquiries, complaints and commendations

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Liberia's action plan at: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/liberia-action-plan-2017-2019/

This commitment aimed to employ the Liberia National Police's (LNP) off- and online resources to improve access to policing information and facilitate civic participation in safeguarding communities. It also aimed to coordinate with auxiliary ministries and agencies (for example, the Ministry of Justice) to document and quantify policing data. The commitment's overall goal was to address a lack of credibility and public mistrust of the LNP, which were partly due to everyday personal experiences of bribery and excessive use of force. ^[40]

At the time this commitment was designed, the LNP had already launched its website and introduced an emergency hotline. ^[41] This commitment is a continuation of two commitments from Liberia's 2015 action plan. The first commitment sought to publish police data online and was not implemented. ^[42] The second commitment led to the creation of a webpage on the LNP website for citizens to file complaints or praise for a particular police officer. ^[43]

This commitment had limited completion by the end of the action plan period. ^[44] Meeting minutes from Liberia's OGP Working Group stated that the LNP created a complaints hotline (Milestone 1). ^[45] This note may refer to the previously established webpage for citizens to submit complaints or praise for police officers. The IRM researcher did not find a telephone hotline number other than the police emergency number on the LNP website. ^[46]

Milestone 2 involved establishing a task force of MOJ and civil society organization (CSO) partners to understand police and public safety information. The government did not start this during the implementation period. The LNP did collect quarterly statistics and data on crimes and accidents from police stations (Milestone 3). However, this information is available only on request and is not published online (Milestone 4). Finally, the government did produce a citizen brochure on policing policies, procedures, and citizens' rights (Milestone 5), but it is also not available online. ^[47] LNP reported that it did start a weekly radio program to share policing information with the public. ^[48] Overall, activities were insufficiently implemented to increase citizens' access to police information or civic participation.

By September 2019, a time beyond the scope of this commitment, the LNP and partners formed the Joint Security Public Relations Network to consolidate all security institutions' public relations and communications. The Strategic Capacity Group on the Strategic Communications Capacity Building Project provided strategic planning, skills building, and improved policies, practices, and platforms to institutionalize community policing best practices. ^[49] Additionally, the LNP worked closely with the Carter Center to uphold its freedom of information responsibilities and relied on its Facebook page, ^[50] press releases, and conferences to inform the public.

The government carried out these activities under the goal of proactive disclosure, solving issues before they escalate and ensuring that the LNP discloses information in a timely manner to combat disinformation. The LNP's community services section also worked with the Community Watch Forum to coordinate volunteer community watch teams. ^[51] This partnership included weekly meetings with reports on happenings, and police actions and responses from counties. However, these activities were not related to commitment milestones.

This commitment did not result in a change in government practices. The LNP's high-quality website, officer comment portal, and quarterly data collection constitute important open government tools. However, the government implemented these activities in the previous action plan. The IRM researcher did not find evidence that the continuation of this commitment resulted in new open government gains. The establishment of a nonemergency telephone hotline, MOJ and CSO task force, and open police data would have resulted in important changes to government practice.

Civic unrest on this issue, from Nigeria to the United States, indicates the vital importance of police accountability and transparency in gaining citizens' trust in government. The IRM researcher recommends that this commitment is continued, provided that the political will and financial resources exist for implementation. Effective implementation will require the buy-in from reform-minded staff within the Liberia National Police, high-level political support, and collaboration with civil society. Implementers can refer to OGP resources on police transparency for best practices and international guidance. ^[52]