This article examines the east African country of Uganda which suffered a lengthy civil war in the late 1980s as a result of the authoritarian and abusive rule of President Obote. It is now 18 years since the National Resistance Army seized power and brought the war to an end – long enough to review the effectiveness of the regime’s experiments with policing. On the one hand it offers examples of what can be positively achieved and sustained in the local community in a post-conflict situation. On the other there are negative lessons to learn from how it has responded to anxieties about regional security and organized crime. Based on field research in Uganda between February to April 2004, this paper draws out some of the lessons gained as they relate to post-conflict policing.