Lesotho police education and training in community conflict management : a case study of the child and gender protection unit in Maseru (CGPU)

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to explore how the Lesotho Child and Gender Protection Unit (CGPU) in Maseru, under the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS), managed conflict situations when dealing with families and communities. The study examined the extent to which police had received training in conflict management and the kind of further education and training that was still needed to manage conflicts more effectively. The police mediated through interviews with affected individuals. The LMPS Strategic Plan describes the vision of the LMPS as follows: “By 2016, the LMPS shall be a professional and accountable police service, providing safety and security in partnership with the community, with particular emphasis on crime prevention, reduction, detection and human rights observance” (LMPS n.d. n.p.). This mandate has direct relevance to my study and the formation of the CGPU. A Qualitative case study design was used. It covered two police stations in the country, namely the Maseru Urban and Maseru Rural police stations. These police stations are in two administrative districts in the rural and urban areas of Lesotho. Thirty (30) people, including police and family members were interviewed. Sixteen (16) police officers and 14 community members in Maseru responded to a semi structured interview guide. Eight of these officers and seven of the community members were also observed during mediation sessions. This study adopted the symbolic interactionism theoretical framework, which acknowledges that different people perceive issues differently. Individuals use language to communicate meanings they think are relevant to a certain group of people, and interaction with symbols becomes the key aspect of communication. As a result, meanings and language play a role in aggravating or decreasing conflicts in families. It was evident, when taking a symbolic interaction perspective, that police culture and institutional language held its own forms of meaning-making, thus making it a fine line between making meaning out of the language of the law and finding ways to make sense of the conflict through cultural and gender perspectives. Meaning making was therefore complex and sometimes contradictory. Since the police deployed in the CGPU should perform professionally, the study dwelt on whether the police had the relevant skills and knowledge as far as education and training were concerned. The findings revealed that the majority of the police had spent many years in the unit without access to education and training, either in or outside of the country. While education and training was the focus of the study, the study also revealed that cultural issues played a major role in conflict management. Participants had different views regarding this issue. Some believed that culture contributed to the fuelling of conflicts in families; however, there were those who believed that it did not play any role in aggravating conflicts. Gender issues became a key aspect in conflict management. It appeared that the police were occasionally biased when performing conflict management. These findings led to recommendations on how police in the Child and Gender Protection Unit (CGPU) should be trained on how to manage conflict situations more effectively in the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS). This included exploring how police managed gender-based violence or domestic violence in conflict situations. Findings revealed that the source of conflict were assault, abuse, gender based violence and misuse of family funds. Therefore, police working in CGPU needed education and training on the fields such as counselling, psychology, and play therapy. Adult education programmes for the police officers, planned with institutions like University of Lesotho (Institution of Extra-Mural Studies), were recommended.