Law enforcement in Ethiopia
One example of these customary procedures was the tradition of parties in civil, and even minor criminal disputes, to call upon a passing stranger to decide the issue.
As Margary Perham notes, "These informal roadside courts might last for hours to the deep interest of the spectators, and many travellers have described this characteristic Ethiopian scene.
"[3] Families usually avenged wrongs committed against their members, and the armed retainers of the nobility enforced law in the countryside according to the will of their leaders.
In 1916 the imperial government formed a civilian municipal guard in Addis Ababa to ensure obedience to legal proclamations.
[4] As part of his efforts to modernize the country, Emperor Haile Selassie undertook several reforms to improve law enforcement.
[4] This replaced a police force of about 3,000 men who operated in and around Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, and along the route of the railway, and had been reorganized by Belgian advisors.
Assistant police commissioners in each of the fourteen provinces worked in conjunction with the governors general, but for the most part Addis Ababa directed administration.
The police usually recruited local men who were familiar with the social values of the areas in which they served; however, the populace rarely looked upon such individuals with affection.
[4] After the 1974 Ethiopian revolution, the Derg severely circumscribed the authority of the national police, which had been identified with the old regime and regional interests.
The authorities accused constables of protecting landowners against peasants in the countryside, of arresting supporters of the military regime in Addis Ababa, and of being members of the "rightist opposition."
The Asmera police voluntarily stayed at their posts for some time after their dismissal to protect civilians from attack by unruly soldiers.
Other special units joined the augmented 9,000-member paramilitary Mobile Emergency Police Force for employment in counterinsurgency operations.
The Revolutionary Operations Coordinating Committee, organized at the subregion level, cooperated with the police in battling smuggling and economic sabotage.
[4] The Marxist regime stressed that the mission of the national police was essentially political—more involved with suppressing political dissent as the local law enforcement role shifted to People's Protection Brigades.
In politically stable rural areas where duty requirements and supervision were less exacting, the police were less efficient than their urban counterparts.
National police officers were paid according to the same standardized wage scale that applied to members of the armed forces.
The Commission reports to the Ministry of Peace following the politically motivated reform of 2018, which in turn is responsible to the parliament; however, this subordination is loose in practice.
In previous years, the police reported to the Security, Immigration, and Refugees Affairs Authority, a unit of the Ethiopian Ministry of Justice.
The Deputy Commissioner also commands the Ethics police college, the Human Resources and Administration and the Research and Planning departments.
