Find Security expertise in United Republic of Tanzania
- Overview
- Status of Security
- Regulation
Public security and policing services are provided by the Tanzania Police Force and the Tanzania Intelligence and Security Services (TISS). Interpol has a presence in Tanzania and is based in Dar es Salaam.
There are a number of private security firms providing a broad range of services and products to businesses and householders, employing about one million guards nationally. These companies include Group 4 Securicor, Knight Support, Mint Master Security and Security Group. The Tanzania Security Industry Association is the industry body.
Cyber security is becoming an increasingly important part of the sector as ICT in the country improves. In 2003 a National ICT policy was issued by the government although since then there had been no more up-to-date legislation or policies with regards to cyber security in 2013.
In 2010 there were an estimated 10,357 homicides per 100,000 of the population of which an estimated 175 were attributable to gun crime. By comparison, there were an estimated 4,710 homicides in Zambia in the same year of which 28 were gun homicides.
The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report (2012-2013) gives Tanzania a moderate score of 3.6 out of 7, below the world average of 4.3, for reliability of police services where 1 means that police services cannot be relied upon and 7 indicates that they can be completely relied upon. This places the country in 102nd place out of 144 countries worldwide. Both Oorganised crime, such as racketeering and extortion, and other crime and violence moderately affect business in Tanzania scoring 4.8 (below the world average of 5.1) and 4.5 (below the average of 4.7) respectively. In both categories a score of 1 indicates that crime imposes costs on businesses to a great extent and 7, that it imposes no costs on businesses. The business cost of terrorism however was fair, scoring 4.6 out of 7, above the world average of 5.4 meaning that terrorism only moderately affects businesses’ costs.
In 2012 the Tanzania Security Industry Association (TSIA) called for parliament to enact legislation regarding the regulation of private security firms in the country. Since its liberalisation in the 1980s the sector operates without a legal framework. As of February 2013, no such legislation had been officially approved by parliament.