Iver Frigaard

Acting Commissioner
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
Focus Area(s)
Accountable Policing
Critical Tasks
Integration and amalgamation
Recruitment
Interviewers
Arthur Boutellis
Country of Reform
Kosovo
Town/City
Pristina, Republic of Kosovo
Date of Interview
Monday, July 28, 2008
Abstract

Iver Frigaard describes how criminal networks developed in Kosovo in the absence of effective law enforcement activity. He discusses his reasons for objecting to the decision to drop the word Service from the official name of the Kosovo Police Service. He describes the police force as functional and says police had earned the respect of the population despite being deficient in certain skills. He discusses the problems of low salaries, corruption, political influence, the process of recruitment and vetting, and the transfer of power and responsibilities from the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo to the Kosovo Police. He extensively describes the issues of politicization and ethnic differences that affected the police force in Kosovo.

Case Study: Building the Police Service in a Security Vacuum: International Efforts in Kosovo, 1999-2011

Full Interview

72MB
Iver Frigaard Interview
Profile

At the time of this interview, Iver Frigaard was the acting police commissioner for the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, a post to which he was appointed in May 2008 by the U.N.'s Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Educated as a lawyer and with a military background, he became a public prosecutor with the police in Norway. After 11 years in the security services, he spent another 11 years with Interpol in France before joining UNMIK in Kosovo in 2007 as deputy commissioner for crime.

Keywords
depoliticization
Donor Relations
external accountability services
incentive systems
language
oversight agency
recruitment
Reform sequencing
UN Policies
vetting
Not specified