Etudes par pays volume 2, PDF, 346 p., 1,4 Mo - Femise

11873_02 Study D2: Poverty, Informal Sector, Health and Labour
One of the main problems facing law enforcement in Egypt is that people do
not regard or treat it with due respect. This could be due to several factors.
First, the law is not penalizing enough since perpetrators of crimes are not
always punished for their deeds and loopholes in the legislature are
exploited to the advantage of criminals. In addition, the legal process is
extremely slow so that cases are procrastinated, and take a very long time to
be settled in courts. The legal system is also characterized by the existence
of some corruption, whereby several judges have been found guilty of
accepting bribes, were forced to resign, and in some cases were imprisoned.
In addition to this, there is a general impression that law enforcement
officers take advantage of their positions and are above the law in certain
areas, which gives rise to public resentment directed at the police force.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself suffers from several
shortcomings that impede law enforcement in Egypt such as:
1. Salaries granted to the majority of the police force are very low.
2. Law enforcement officers are constantly racked with feelings of
occupational instability and insecurity because at any time and through
no fault of their own, they could be used as scapegoats and are either
demoted or fired.
3. There exists occupational stagnation. An officer has to spend a
considerable amount of time in the same position before he could be
promoted to the following rank. In addition, promotions take place
according to seniority and date of graduation and not according to
efficiency or merit.
4. As already mentioned, society tends to view some of the police officers
as corrupt, immoral members who abuse their authority in circumventing
the law. Due to this, in addition to points (1), (2), and (3), we find that:
- police officers lack the incentive to improve their performance and
efficiently carry out their jobs.
- A significant part of the force is corrupt (bribery and immoral
behavior) or misuses its power so that society’s labeling of police
officers has become self-fulfilling.
FONDAZIONE CENSIS
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