Abstract
Police reform in post-conflict societies is increasingly important in international peace support operations. Post-conflict situations are complex, and addressing security and insecurity issues is therefore challenging. Evaluations, field reports and research have frequently highlighted challenges related to how assistance is provided in connection with police reform. A common finding in these evaluations is that police reform programmes without local ownership and community involvement and support have little chance of succeeding. Community-oriented policing (COP) has therefore become an important policing philosophy and strategy in this context. This paper addresses issues related to the challenges in implementation of police reform by exploring the perennial question of how police assistance can be better utilised in a sustainable manner in post-conflict contexts. The paper is divided in two sections. In the first, we identify some key challenges facing international police assistance. Here we discuss six main challenges grounded in secondary literature comprising academic research and police mission reports. In the next section using the example of a broadly based police experts network (PEN) established in connection with the EU-funded research project ‘Community-Based Policing and Post-Conflict Police Reform’, the paper discusses how such a network can play an important role in contributing to policy formation, education and training programme development for use in police reform projects. The creation of the e-handbook and e-learning shows the potential for such a network to work and contribute in a cross-disciplinary manner. Furthermore, we identify four key ways in which this type of network can contribute to improved international police assistance. The work is exploratory and contributes to understanding of the complexities of police assistance in post-conflict contexts.
Highlights
Background from academiaWith experience from one or more police reform missionsWith experiences as receiver of police advice (Host country)Experiences as both an advisee and later as a police reform advisor
This paper addresses issues related to the challenges in implementation of police reform by exploring the perennial question of how police assistance can be better utilised in a sustainable manner in post-conflict contexts
The United Nations (UN) is not alone in this effort; other actors, question that this paper addresses is as follows: How can such as the European Union (EU) through its Common Se- police assistance be better utilised to facilitate sustainable curity and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions, have supported reform in post-conflict contexts? After a brief chapter depolice reform in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herze- scribing the methodology used in this paper, we provide an govina, and Somalia
Summary
An international NGO in Sierra Leone con- post-conflict societies need a police service that ducted a security sector survey in order to assess people’s can deal with immediate threats of insurgency as well as tackling day-to-day law and order issues within and between there is ‘considerable consensus amongst reformists about communities. This to the immediate security situation, such as a reliance on lack of coherence and coordination on an international tribal guards and the creation of a more centralized police stage, where power in reform is held externally, was decommand and control structure, were contrary to the coali- scribed by Ashraf in the case of Iraq He described how tion’s long-term political goals’ [23]. These reforms tend to operate under a ‘one-size-fits-all’ mindset, neglecting the critical requirement
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