Review: Maintenir La Paix En Zones Postconflit Les Nouveaux Visages De La Police

Abstract

MAINTENIR LA PAIX EN ZONES POSTCONFLIT Les nouveaux visages de la police Samuel Tanner and Benoit Dupont, eds. Montreal: Presses de l'Universite de Montreal, 2012. 300 pp., $34.95 (paper) ISBN 978-2760627819In their edited volume Maintenir la paix en zones postconflit: les nouveaux visages de la police, Samuel Tanner and Benoit Dupont explore the ways in which police officers deployed in international peace operations negotiate and operationalize their mandate in the field (29). The authors argue that international police missions now play an essential role in the reestablishment of peace and order in post-conflict settings, contributing directly to the construction of accountable and responsible security institutions. These missions also support the reestablishment of security and order in the aftermath of armed conflict.Yet several pitfalls threaten the contribution of police to international peace-building. First, there is an important gap between the traditional police function in peaceful, developed societies and the police mandate in international peace missions. Building trust, transposing expertise, and diffusing knowledge on best practices present important challenges for foreign police forces. Second, international police missions are affected by the same issues that affect broader peace operations. The lack of coherence and coordination among donors tends to muddy the definition of the police mission's objectives and operations on the ground. The leadership of international police missions influences the mission's priorities and the strategies adopted to achieve its objectives. Third, there is the question of the suitability of practices involved in the preparation for deployment and the reintegration of police officers upon their return from international peace missions. Currently, these pitfalls limit the contribution of police officers abroad, as well as their ability to apply their experiences and new competencies on their return.The chapters in this volume cover three main themes. First, they offer an overview of national and regional deployment mechanisms and the rationale behind national participation. Individual chapters focus on police forces from the European Union, parts of Latin America, Canada, the United States, and Australia, and discuss the problems these forces encounter in the field as components of international peace operations. For example, Francis Pakyaf discusses the problems with coordination and coherence that have hindered broad security reform in Afghanistan by inhibiting Afghanistan's national police force. He highlights the ways in which the NATO training mission and the EU police mission in Afghanistan adopted contradictory strategies. While NATO focused on counter-insurgency and rapid capacity building to control the territory, the EU supported the professionalization of the police through extended training at the police academy of Kabul. Nathalie Duelos presents the power struggles that have opposed France and the US in the reform of the Kosovo Police Service (KSP). Disagreements between France and the US regarding the selection of policemen, the administration of the KSP, and policing procedures undermined the coherence and quality of training offered to the local police, and ultimately the professionalization of the KSP.Several contributors emphasize that levels of professionalism and competence vary greatly from one national police contingent to another. These differences influence local trust in the international mission and its personnel, as well as the quality of training and the perceived success and progress of the mission. While international police missions initially focused on training and equipping the new local police, generally, their mandate and its operationalization have evolved towards more complex objectives: building trust, reinforcing security institutions, maintaining order, supporting the local police in the conduct of their operations, and even standing in for local police when the mission has an executive mandate. …