This article addresses the connection between information and communications technology (ICT) and police-community engagement in environments characterised by high access to mobile telephones but minimal police response rates. It examines public responses to a text alert project in Somaliland’s capital Hargeisa in order to explore the everyday choices shaping low-level police-community engagement. Although the project failed (local people did not use mobiles to alert the police to security issues requiring attention), it offers contextualised insights into both the specifics of daily police-community relations and the use of mobiles as a two-way technology capable of reaching low-income or marginalised populations in relatively safe urban environments. In focusing on how local expectations are, rather than should be, fulfilled, it finds little evidence to suggest that access to ICT leads to more responsive or accountable policing. For police, activities are shaped as much by community expectations as by the technologies available, and local preferences can offset the availability of globalised ICT. From this perspective, the key to understanding police-community engagement is found in the knowledge, skills and resources police need to fulfil local expectations, rather than the expectations of international donors.

中文翻译：

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有人在吗？哈尔格萨的警察、社区和通信技术

本文讨论了信息和通信技术 (ICT) 与警察-社区参与之间的联系，这些环境的特点是移动电话使用率高但警察响应率最低。它检查了公众对索马里兰首都哈尔格萨的文本警报项目的反应，以探索塑造低级别警察社区参与的日常选择。尽管该项目失败了（当地人没有使用手机提醒警察注意需要注意的安全问题），但它提供了对日常警察与社区关系的具体细节以及手机作为一种双向技术的使用，提供了情境化的见解相对安全的城市环境中的低收入或边缘化人群。在关注当地期望如何而不是应该如何实现时，它发现几乎没有证据表明使用 ICT 会导致更具响应性或问责制的警务。对于警察来说，活动既受社区期望的影响，也受可用技术的影响，地方偏好可以抵消全球化 ICT 的可用性。从这个角度来看，理解警察-社区参与的关键在于警察满足当地期望所需的知识、技能和资源，而不是国际捐助者的期望。