Claim: The Police-to- population ratio in Liberia is 1:1,700.
Verdict: False. There is no data to support the claim.
Full Text: Police Inspector General Patrick Sudue appeared before the Liberia Senate on February 28 to answer several security inquiries. During the appearance, he disclosed that the police–to–population ratio is 1:1,700.
The Liberian National Police (LNP) is the frontline force of internal security in the fight against crimes, protecting life and property, and maintaining the rule of law, as directed by its statute.
U.N. peacekeepers went into Liberia in 2003 to stabilize the country after years of civil war led to a collapse of the state.
After ten years of peacekeeping efforts, the United Nations is gradually drawing down its troops in Liberia from about 8,000 to 3,750 by July 2015, leaving the sole security to Liberia.
Verification: Liberia’s first recruitment campaign was launched on May 5, 2004, with UNMIL.
The new recruitment drive targeted 1,374 police officers and occurred throughout the country. The projected strength was 3,500.
In 2009, the United Nations recorded that 3,800 officers were trained in modern policing methods and techniques.
Also, a 2013 report named “No Money, No Justice” said the Liberia National Police (LNP) stands at 4,417 police officers.
UNMIL estimated that Liberia would need 8,000 officers, or nearly double the current LNP force, to adequately serve the Liberian public upon the U.N.’s departure in 2013.
A 2015 Security Council report states that as of August 1, there were 4,886 national police officers, of whom 17.6 percent were women.
The Stage Media contacted the Liberia National Police, and the number is put at 3558 officers are males while 886 are females, which amounts to 4,444 officers in Liberia.
Security expert Togba Emmanuel in a post, Since the drawdown of UNMIL, Liberia is still recording a 1:1,268 police-to-citizen ratio against the U.N. police-to-citizens ratio standard 1: 220 judging from the new Census.
He says as per the 2022 Census outcomes, Liberia needs about 23k Police officers to meet the required Law enforcement standard of the United Nations.
Liberia’s population is now estimated at 5.2 million, according to the provisional census results released by The Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LIGIS).
This comes roughly fifteen years after the country conducted the first post-war National Population and Housing Census in 2008 during the first term of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Provisional results released in March 2008 estimated Liberia’s population at 3,489,072.
Conclusion: While the Liberia National Police claims 4444 officers in its force, it is reasonable to argue that the officer-to-citizen ratio claimed by the LNP’s Inspector General lacks statistics.
