Tunisia: Understanding Conflict 2012 - Johns Hopkins School of ...

evolution, many police, especially the political police, dressed in nondescript blue jeans
and black jackets, which reinforced their thuggish image. As part of the government’s
campaign to present a new, just, and more civic-minded police-force, it was decided that
distinct uniforms would serve as a visual representation of reform. Achieving a clean
break from the former regime has been one of the most important goals of post-revolution
politics, embodied most distinctly in their move to draft a new constitution.
However, the process of doing so is more complicated with the security force than
it is with government officials. Several senior officials in the police and the Interior
Ministry were removed or reshuffled, in an attempt to reform the organization, but it is
not clear to what extent that has been successful. Additionally, although it may work for
the leadership, it is simply not feasible to fire tens of thousands of police officers and hire
replacements, nor would it serve the interests of the state because it would create a
sizable faction of politically disaffected young men, accustomed to the use of violence.
The logistics of training an entirely new police force during a time of national transition
would also cause more problems than it would resolve.
Several other lingering or looming problems in the security sector will ensure that
the issue remains prominent among the concerns of the Tunisian people. The most
worrisome of these, especially in the context of the growing controversy surrounding
salafist activities in certain areas, is the formation of so-called “morality” or religious
police (Trabelsi, 7 December 2011). Not sanctioned by any government body, these
groups are reported to consist of Islamist men attempting to impose religious norms and
practices on others, by force or intimidation. There are also rumors that the political
police have not truly disbanded but merely gone underground, and the specter of an
apparatus devoted to political repression still hovers over the political dialogue.
In a more concrete sense, Tunisia is facing severe economic problems that
challenge its ability to provide adequate funding for government services, including the
police. Without resources to sufficiently compensate security personnel, there is little
guarantee that they will not revert to their pre-revolution behavior of graft and extortion.
Perhaps the largest dilemma facing police reform is, on the one hand, breaking the bad
habits of those officers involved in nefarious activities, and, on the other hand, building
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