Vincent Dzakpata recounts his experiences as the United Nations Police chief of staff in the U.N. Integrated Office in Sierra Leone.  He was brought in to help build the capacity of the Sierra Leone police service and improve professionalism in preparation for the 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections.  Dzakpata identifies some of the major obstacles that reformers in the country faced, including a lack of motivation and commitment among officers and their reluctance to take ownership of proposed reforms.  Another major issue was poverty.  Many of the members of the Sierra Leone police were under severe financial pressure, to the point that it inhibited their ability to perform their jobs.  The officers, particularly those of the unarmed general policing unit, often lacked the self-confidence required to effectively do their jobs; some claimed that northerners tended to be favored in the system.  Dzakpata maintains the importance of improving the self-regulation mechanisms within the police force, as well as the expansion of the mechanisms in place for external regulation, including the Complaints Disciplinary Internal Investigations Department, which he commends as having helped restore public trust in the Sierra Leone police.  He suggests that reforms likely would have achieved greater success and permanance if the U.N. had the authority to take disciplinary action against state officers who resisted change.

Case Study:  Building Strategic Capacity in the Police: Sierra Leone, 1998-2008

An administrative and language assistant for the U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Police, Muhamet Musliu speaks about his eight-year experience with the service.  Through his role as an interpreter, he gives a firsthand account of the successes and failures of the UNMIK Police.  He discusses the daily police routine and challenges faced by an officer in Kosovo, and he provides detail about ethnic tensions and protests in areas around Mitrovica.  He continues by describing the diversity of the UNMIK Police and the recruiting process.  Finally Musliu discusses the Serbian protest against the Kosovo Declaration of Independence, citing its crippling effect on the UNMIK Police.    

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

Giorgio Butini, police adviser to the Office of the EUSR/EU Commission Delegation in Skopje, Macedonia, recounts his experiences while serving as central coordinator and deputy head of program for Proxima, the European Union police mission in the former Yugoslav republic.  During 18 years with the Italian State Police, he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.  Butini discusses the coordination of efforts of various external organizations in the transition from a military to civilian police force in Macedonia.  His reflections about the representation of ethnic Albanians and Macedonians in the reformed police force and his insights into the coordination of efforts between and among external and internal actors contribute to the conversation on structural components of policing reform.

Shantnu Chandrawat, acting commander of UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) police in the Mitrovica region, discusses the progress of efforts to create an effective indigenous police force in Kosovo. Chandrawat, who had also served with an earlier UNMIK mission in Kosovo in 2001-2002, explains that during that first mission much of the crime he saw “related to the ethnic threat.” Now, those crimes have decreased, and crimes related to narcotics, smuggling, theft, and personal violence have increased. The police force itself has also changed substantially. At the time of Chandrawat’s first mission, UNMIK police carried out all policing duties; the local police forces were “under training and under probation.” Since that time, the KPS (Kosovo Police Service) has hired new officers of diverse ethnicities, integrated them effectively into the force, and implemented new training procedures involving both academy study and field unit rotations designed to develop specialized skills in such areas as field investigations, patrolling, forensics, and community policing. Chandrawat advises that these changes have been very productive, and that the KPS now functions effectively as an independent force with monitoring and oversight by UNMIK. He identifies the main challenges now facing the KPS as a lack of physical resources, especially vehicles; the need to improve transparency of the promotion system, and the need to increase salaries and improve salary payment practices.    

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

Mike McCormack, co-president of the Guyana Human Rights Association at the time of this interview, discusses many challenges to protecting human rights in Guyana.  With more than 30 years' experience working on human rights issues in the country, he is able to chart progress and setbacks with a deep knowledge base.  McCormack reflects on the extra-judicial killings of the past and present, the drug-related incidents that have become more common, and tensions between the human rights community and the police.  McCormack also touches upon the ethnic representation of the police and perceptions among the Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese communities as well as the disparities between the rural and urban police units.  He draws a distinct line between the prison system and the police as an organization.

Chirashree Das Gupta of the Asian Development Research Institute addresses a range of governance issues on the reform agenda of the Nitish Kumar government that came to power in India's Bihar state in 2005.  In particular, she talks about the administrative reforms that were necessary after years of curtailed expenditures and reduced functioning of basic governance.  She details the importance of coalition-building and incentive-based ownership of programs by the bureaucracy, while recognizing the issue of brokerage that exists in areas of deprivation with a limited number of positions available.  She highlights the recruitment of 100,000 teachers as both a success and a failure.  She also shares thoughts on integration of different segments of society in a place where the caste system so clearly divides political support.

Case Studies:  Coalition Building in a Divided Society: Bihar State, India, 2005-2009 and Reviving the Administration, Bihar State, India, 2005-2009