COMMUNITY POLICING REFORM IN POST-SOVIET GEORGIA: DECODING THE PERSISTENT CHALLENGES THROUGH SOVIET LEGACIES

Abstract

Police reform has always been on the reform agenda in independent post-soviet Georgia. Still, after the “Rose Revolution”, the reform gained momentum and was promoted to top priorities. The police suffered a significant lack of trust during Shevardnadze’s presidency due to the association of that institution with corruption, violence, and organized crime, police. One should also consider the heavy influences of the Soviet period on the culture of policing.

Supporters of reform have always stressed the importance of transforming totalitarian police into a democratic institution, and various experiences have been examined to address the challenge. This article looks at the community police reform carried out in 2017 as one of the features of democratic policing and conceptualizes the essential characteristics of the reform.

It has been argued that political actors, lack of finances, lack of a professional cadre, and so forth could have helped the effective implementation of the reforms. This study argues that Soviet legacies could also potentially affect the establishment of democratic policing in Georgia, and one should not overlook this factor when dealing with the subject. While our study does not assess the actual impacts of these legacies, it introduces legacy arguments. It suggests considering it as a factor that might impede the progression toward democratic policing. Furthermore, ongoing police reform initiatives may only be effective if designers address the legacy argument.