Somali Police Force (Booliska Soomaaliyeed)

In short

The Somali Police Force is the federal police service. Puntland, Jubaland, Somaliland and the other member states also have their own police (see Puntland's security forces and Somaliland armed forces). This page records its history and structure from the sources.

Before 1960

Wikipedia records a British armed constabulary on the Somaliland coast from 1884, a Somaliland Coastal Police from 1910 and the Somaliland Police Force from 1926. In the south, the Italian administration had its own police corps (Wikipedia, Somali Police Force).

1960–1991

At independence in 1960 the two services were joined into the Somali Police Force, about 3,700 strong. About 1,000 of them formed the Darawishta, a mobile force. Mohamed Abshir Muse became the first commander (Wikipedia, citing the Library of Congress country study). The Darawishta, with the British Somaliland Scouts, also formed the core of the new army (Wikipedia, Somali Armed Forces). See Somali National Army.

The force set up an air wing and a women's unit in 1961 and a national fire brigade in 1971. In 1976 it was placed under the president's security adviser rather than the interior ministry. When the government fell in 1991, the Darawishta and the riot unit stopped working (Wikipedia).

Rebuilding

The Armo Police Academy near Bosaso opened on 20 December 2005 with UN funding. After al-Shabaab left Mogadishu in August 2011, the police set up their headquarters there. In January 2013 the UN reported paying stipends to 5,388 officers in Mogadishu, Baidoa and Galmudug, and 4,463 officers in Mogadishu were biometrically registered (Wikipedia, citing UN Security Council report S/2013/69). Japan and the EU funded stipends through the UN until December 2015 (same source).

Officially the federal police now number about 40,000, according to Paul D. Williams's 2024 study (CTC Sentinel, April 2024).

Units

• Haramcad ("Cheetah"). A special police force whose first 120 cadets graduated in Isparta, Turkey, in 2019. Planned at 600–800 officers, it supports the army in urban counter-insurgency and guards Mogadishu's airport and the Green Zone.
• Criminal Investigation Department. About 180 officers, trained since 2019 by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime with US funding (UNODC).
• Explosive ordnance disposal. First teams trained in April 2014 by the EU and the UN Mine Action Service.
• Coast guard. Shares maritime law enforcement with the navy out to 200 nautical miles.
• Others. Traffic police, women's unit, custodial corps, fire brigade, riot unit and rapid response team.

(Wikipedia, unless stated)

Training partners and agreements

Ethiopia signed a police development agreement in February 2014; the US pledged US$1.9 million for security sector reform in August 2014; Turkey signed a police support treaty in January 2015 (Wikipedia; US State Department, 2014). Officers train at Armo and at the General Kahiye Police Academy in Mogadishu, which was being renovated from May 2023 (Wikipedia).

Leaders

Commissioners named in the sources include Osman Omar Wehliye (2011–2014), Brigadier General Bashir Abdi Mohamed (appointed June 2018) and Major General Asad Osman Abdullahi (Wikipedia). On 17 June 2009 the Mogadishu police chief, Colonel Ali Said, was killed in fighting in the capital (same source, citing BBC News).

Read the primary sources yourself

• UN Security Council, report of the Secretary-General on Somalia, S/2013/69: UN document.
• Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study (1993): catalogue record.