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Results for civilian police

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Author: den Heyer, Garth

Title: The Role of Civilian Police in Peacekeeping: 1999–2007

Summary: The role of police officers in peacekeeping missions has expanded considerably since their inclusion in the first United Nations mission to the Congo in July 1960. The role of the police in that deployment was to assist the Congo government in maintaining law and order while the Belgian military withdrew from the country. Since that mission, the role of police has evolved— in unison with the evolution of peacekeeping—from one of monitoring the democratic election process to one of providing law enforcement services and of assisting with reform and reorganization of police services in post-conflict countries. Two of the biggest changes for police in peacekeeping occurred in the late 1990s with the advent of executive policing, which involved international police being responsible for local policing and for undertaking capacity development of indigenous police services. Coinciding with those changes, academics and practitioners have confirmed that the post-conflict role of police is of great importance and that police are necessary to provide the fundamentals for nation building. In parallel, the complexity of peacekeeping missions has changed the role that police play from one of mentoring the postconflict nation’s police service to one of (a) developing institutional police capacity, (b) supporting reform, and (c) restructuring and rebuilding local police (Hills, 2009; Murtaugh, 2010). The United Nations and the European Union have had to ensure that they had the administrative, strategic, and political structures in place to plan, deploy, support, and manage large comprehensive missions that comprise both police and military goals and objectives that address such changes. The United Nations recognized the change in the police peacekeeping environment when it created a police adviser position in the mid-1990s. The position included responsibility for advising the Department of Peacekeeping Operations about police-related matters. The significance of the police adviser was increased further on May 15, 2000, with the establishment of the Civilian Police Unit within the Department’s Military and Civilian Police Division. The Civilian Police Unit’s core functions included the following: • Prepare plans for the police components of field missions, monitor their implementation, and revise them as necessary. • Develop civilian police guidelines and standing operating procedures for field missions. • Establish a liaison with member states in regard to (a) the identification and deployment of civilian police officers to field missions, (b) the operational requirements of the mission, and (c) the related personnel and administrative issues. As a result of the change in emphasis and the complexity of missions, the existing institutional framework is now being tested. More than 12,500 United Nations police now exist who are from more than 90 countries and are deployed on 17 different field missions. New ways of thinking about how police are deployed, what their role is during deployment, how they undertake their duties, and how their performance is measured is needed because of the scale and comprehensiveness of modern missions. The first step in understanding how to best assist postconflict nations in the rule of law context is to understand the role of police in peacekeeping. The second step is to ensure that the service the police are delivering is meeting the requirements of the local government. The final step is identifying police officers who have the appropriate level of skill for the mission and then ensuring that they understand what their role in the mission is, how the mission is to be achieved, and how their performance will be measured. The findings from this study may assist police planners, practitioners, and researchers who are part of a widening audience that has an interest in the role of police in post-conflict or underdeveloped nations. The study fills a vacuum in previous research about how peacekeeping missions were planned, managed, and evaluated from the police perspective, and it takes the findings from 23 peacekeeping missions and develops a dynamic new police peacekeeping model that may be used in such situations. The proposed model is comprehensive but simple and easily understood. It is hoped that this research and the subsequent model provide mission leaders with the tools to implement policies and programs that will effectively reform police agencies in post-conflict nations.

Details: Washington, DC: Police Foundations, 2012. 228p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 8, 2013 at: http://www.policefoundation.org/sites/pftest1.drupalgardens.com/files/201304/Den%20Heyer%20(2012)-%20Civilian%20Police%20in%20Peacekeping.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: International

URL: http://www.policefoundation.org/sites/pftest1.drupalgardens.com/files/201304/Den%20Heyer%20(2012)-%20Civilian%20Police%20in%20Peacekeping.pdf

Shelf Number: 129574

Keywords:
Civilian Police
Developing Countries
Peacekeeping
Policing (International)
Post-Conflict Nations