Ethiopia Country Profile

Police

Individual Corruption

The police have a poor track record of politically motivated arbitrary arrest, lengthy detentions and harassment of detainees, as reported by the US Department of State 2008. According to the same source, petty corruption remains a problem in the police force, particularly among the traffic police, who are known to solicit bribes from motorists.

Political Corruption

According to the US Department of State 2008, the political opposition is particularly exposed to maltreatment by the police force. Impunity is another problem within the police force, and the government rarely publicly discloses the results of investigations into such types of abuses. The federal police acknowledge that many of its members as well as regional police lack professionalism. The appointment of law enforcement officials is rarely carried out according to professional criteria and the police are considered to be politically influenced.

Frequency

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010:
- Business executives give the reliability of the Ethiopian police services to enforce law and order a score of 3.9 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').