Policing from below: community policing as an objective in peace operations

Abstract

Abstract Community policing has been, if not always an expressed objective, at least part of some of the most recent peace operations, such as those in Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor. In East Timor, the use of community policing by the United Nations civilian police (CivPols) was a declared goal. However, it is an elusive concept and its applicability in the context of international peace operations needs examination. This is particularly pertinent where the police mission includes a law enforcement mandate—not only training and monitoring—as was the case in both Kosovo and East Timor. This chapter deals with com munity policing in peace operations where the CivPol component has a law enforcement mandate—executive policing. This chapter makes extensive reference to the case of East Timor but takes a more general approach when discussing the possibility and indeed the usefulness of applying the concept of community policing in peace operations. The inherent problems with the term and the ways in which these problems translate from a national to an inter national context are outlined.