Egypt
| Author | George Kurian |
| Pages | 361-365 |
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Official country name: Arab Republic of Egypt
Capital: Cairo
Geographic description: Occupies the lower end of the Nile Delta in the northeastern corner of the African continent and the Sinai Peninsula, the land bridge between Asia and Africa
Population: 77,505,756 (est. 2005)
Under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt had a corrupt and oppressive police system that treated the population with the disdain of an occupying power. Contacts between the fellahin in rural areas and the police were few, but confrontational when they occurred. The police were concerned only with securing the rights of the state and the powerful. Each law enforcement official, down to the umdah, or the village headman, pressed hard on those below him to placate those above him. The police and internal security matters were divided among various ministries, each rife with corruption and competing with other agencies for power and authority. Because of overlapping responsibilities, there was endless chaos and morale was poor. At the same time, the police did nothing to curb the high rate of individual and group violence caused by the propensity of the fellah to take the law into his own hands and retaliate against all forms of perceived injustice by government officials, neighbors, or relatives.
The army officer's coup that overthrew the monarchy initiated a series of police reforms. All police functions were integrated in the Ministry of the Interior. Standards or recruitment and performance were raised, a training program was initiated, and a serious effort was made to educate the public about the rule of law.
During the first ten years of the Nasser regime, police organization and morale were strengthened and the incidence of serious crimes were reduced. Although the regime was authoritarian some limits were placed on the arbitrary nature of police behavior and conduct. The trend continued under Anwar Sadat, who succeeded Gamal Abdel Nasser. The police training program was modernized, better police equipment was introduced, and a police anticorruption campaign was launched. The notorious Turah prison was demolished. Some of these reforms were expanded by Muhammad Hosni Said Mubarak, Sadat's successor. As a result, Egypt has a more modern police system than any other Arab state.
The Police and Security Service is a national organization with its headquarters
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in Cairo under the Ministry of the Interior. There are parallel subordinate elements in each governorate, town, and village. Besides criminal investigation and maintenance of law and order, the police have a broad range of responsibilities that include prison administration, immigration control, and suppression of smuggling, security intelligence, traffic, and emergency relief. The police are also used to supervise elections and facilitate the Haj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. In times of war or martial law, the police are subject to military direction. Military training, a major part of basic police training, reflects their historical tradition as a paramilitary force.
The National Police is organized along military lines with the line of command running from the minister of the interior down through sequentially lower echelons. The organization betrays Turkish, French, and British influences and the centralized flavor it acquired under the monarchy. The total strength of the force is 117,560, of which some 10 percent are officers. In addition, there are 70,000 security militia and village watchmen who as police auxiliaries perform night guard duties in rural areas.
A presidential decree in 1971 reorganized police and security affairs under eight departments of the Ministry of the Interior: State Security Investigations, Emigration and Nationality, Inspection, Criminal Investigation, Transport and Communications, Administrative Affairs, Police Support, and Officers' Affairs and Personnel Affairs. In...
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