Beatrice Munah Sieh Brown, also known as Beatrice Munah Sieh, is a Liberian former police official and educator who served as Inspector General of the Liberia National Police from 2006 to 2009. Appointed by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, she was the first woman to head the Liberia National Police.
Before her appointment, Sieh had served for 18 years in the Liberian police force and later worked as a special education teacher in Trenton, New Jersey, after leaving Liberia during the First Liberian Civil War.
Early career and exile Sieh served in the Liberian police force for 18 years, rising to deputy chief before fleeing Liberia in 1996 during the civil war. According to press accounts published at the time of her appointment, she left after a dispute with the police leadership under President Charles Taylor and after her home was attacked with gunfire. She relocated to the United States with her children and worked as a special education teacher in Trenton, New Jersey.
Inspector General of Police In 2006, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf appointed Sieh as Inspector General of the Liberia National Police. The appointment came during Liberia's post-war security-sector reform period, when the government and the United Nations Mission in Liberia were rebuilding the national police force after years of civil conflict. Academic and policy studies on Liberia's police reform identify Sieh, Asatu Bah-Kenneth and Vera Manly among the women who played important roles in efforts to increase the number of female police officers and improve police responses to sexual and gender-based violence.
During her tenure, the Liberia National Police and its partners promoted gender-sensitive reform, including recruitment of women into the police service and expansion of the Women and Children Protection Section. A Princeton University case study stated that the percentage of female officers in the Liberia National Police increased from 2 percent in 2005 to 17 percent by 2011, after reforms begun during the post-war period. The same study noted that Sieh was replaced as inspector general by Marc Amblard in 2009.
Sieh also publicly addressed armed robbery and sexual violence during Liberia's post-war security challenges. In 2009, she told Voice of America that the police had launched "Operation Thunder Storm" in response to a rise in armed robberies and said that rape associated with violent crime was a major concern for the police.
Legal proceedings Sieh Brown was later named in criminal proceedings involving the procurement of uniforms for the Emergency Response Unit of the Liberia National Police. In 2013, a jury returned a guilty verdict against Sieh Brown, former Deputy Commissioner for Administration Harris Manneh Dunn and others on charges including economic sabotage, theft of property, criminal conspiracy and criminal facilitation in connection with US$199,800 intended for police uniforms.
The trial judge later granted a motion for a new trial, but in 2015 the Supreme Court of Liberia held that the judge had abused his discretion in setting aside the jury verdict and ordered the guilty verdict reinstated for purposes of further appellate review. In 2020, Liberian news reports stated that the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Sieh Brown and four others in the police uniform procurement case. The Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia's corruption case tracker later summarized the case as involving a judgment of US$199,800 and reported that partial restitution had been made.
See also Ellen Johnson Sirleaf United Nations Mission in Liberia Law enforcement in Liberia
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