How can the British Government increase the effectiveness of conflict related policing missions? This study of conflict related international policing from the British Government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office focuses on the key capacity gaps facing the policing elements of international missions. The study finds that the quality of officers deployed – their ability to effectively carry out their roles – is a key capacity gap.
Policing is a critical element in international efforts to maintain law and order and restore the rule of law in states transitioning from conflict to peace and stability. Increased recognition of this over the last decade has led to a rising demand for international police officers, capable of carrying out more complex roles in a greater variety of environments.
Straightforward monitoring and reporting roles have been replaced by a requirement for executive operational policing and longer term rebuilding, reform and development of national police capacities. Policing components of missions may need to provide expertise in paramilitary policing, community policing, investigative and intelligence policing, and the development of leadership, professional standards and organisational and administrative capacities. Conflict related policing missions and operations are now carried out by international and regional organisations. The increased demand is such that various EU and UN missions are now operating significantly below their mandated strength of international police officers.
Individual police officers need delivery skills, which include executive policing, training, coaching, advising, mentoring, and consultancy and donor coordination. Increasing quality requires, amongst other things:
- Professional human resource management to identify and match relevant skills and experience; more effective pre-deployment training to provide officers with the additional skills they will need in missions.
- The development of doctrine, common standards and more effective mission leadership to ensure that officers from differing policing models and cultures can work effectively together.
- The quantity of officers available for deployment is mostly dependent upon the need to balance national policing priorities against international contributions.
- There is a need for better understanding of links between conflict related missions and national policing priorities, for integrating mission work into officers’ career development and effective security management.
- Real improvement is only likely to be achieved by matching resources and funding to the political will for international police deployments.
- Chiefs of Police will always be limited in the support they can give if they are not given resources to back-fill posts vacated by officers deployed overseas.
If the UK is to develop a more effective model of support, the following measures need to be implemented:
- Increasing police ownership and building new capacities in deployment planning and management.
- Changing funding models to provide discreet budgets for delivery structures allocated to, and paid from, the overall budgets of the police bodies responsible.
- Improving staff generation by offering police leaders additional incentives to release staff.
- Better human resource management of the officers deployed.
- The development of national standing and standby cadres.
