Police reform in conflict-affected countries

In this lunch hour conversation with professor John Ciorciari, Eric Beinhart of the U.S. Department of Justice will discuss approaches to police reform in societies affected by conflict. He will share insights about ways to bridge the divide between formal law enforcement and traditional community governance structures in areas where state institutions have lacked capacity and/or legitimacy. He will also discuss the concept of “micro-training” as a way to boost police performance and public acceptance. He will draw on programs from northern Uganda and Sierra Leone as case examples.

About the speaker 

Eric Beinhart is a Senior Training Advisor in the Curriculum Development & Training Unit at the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) at the U.S. Department of Justice. He has worked for ICITAP since 1997 and was the architect and driving force behind an extensive 2018 report entitled, “ICITAP’s Approach to Promoting Sustainable Institutional Law Enforcement Development (SILED).” He served as ICITAP’s assistant director for the Africa, Middle East, Latin America, and Caribbean regions from 2005–08. He went on to become an associate director, and in 2009 began serving as ICITAP’s liaison at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In this capacity, he worked on law enforcement development strategies mutually beneficial to USAID and the U.S. Department of Justice. He conceived, assessed, designed, managed, and helped implement and evaluate a successful USAID-funded ICITAP election security program in Sierra Leone from 2011–12. A Peace Corps veteran who served in Guinea Bissau, where he worked as a community development volunteer, he has also lived in Colombia, El Salvador, and Saudi Arabia.

• police reform
• northern Uganda
• Sierra Leone
• U.S. Department of Justice
• Eric Beinhart
• Weiser Diplomacy Center