Individual Corruption

Corruption within the Ethiopian police is considered to be rampant by the population. Accordingly, the US Department of State 2010 reports that corruption remains a problem particularly among traffic police who routinely solicit bribes from motorists.

According to an October 2010 article by Daily Ethiopia, a top sergeant of the federal police was arrested by the Ethiopian Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission for allegedly accusing an Ethiopian woman of terrorism and forcing her to pay her way out of the charges through bribes. The sergeant, who was head of the surveillance department at Bole International Airport was arrested after being caught taking USD 100 from the woman. The EACC notes that the sergeant had successfully managed to get ETB 10,000 of bribes from the unsuspecting women. 

Political Corruption

According to Global Integrity 2010, appointments to law enforcement agencies are generally based on non-professional criteria, and individuals appointed often have clear party loyalties. Furthermore, the police are not at all protected from the interference of the executive in practice; in fact, they are considered by the public to be highly influenced by political considerations. The same source pinpoints that, in practice, the police enjoy general protection from most criminal investigations. Currently, the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (FEAC) is battling a backlog of police corruption cases.

Frequency

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012:
- Business executives give the reliability of the Ethiopian police services to enforce law and order a score of 4.1 on a 7-point scale (1 being 'cannot be relied upon at all' and 7 being 'can always be relied upon').

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2005:
- The police in this public survey score 3.7 on a 5-point scale (1 being 'not at all corrupt' and 5 'very corrupt').