local police training

Rachel Neild

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A
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
15
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Daniel Scher
Name
Rachel Neild
Interviewee's Position
Senior Adviser, Open Society Justice Initiative
Interviewee's Organization
Open Society Institute
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
British/American
Town/City
Washington, DC
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Rachel Neild describes police reform programs in Haiti, El Salvador and other parts of the world. She discusses extensively the challenges of effective recruitment and vetting, particularly in the presence of poor information. She goes on to discuss the process of integrating former combatants into police forces, noting that while starting police reform from scratch may have been necessary in Haiti, this need not be the case in other contexts if former forces are properly vetted and held to the same standards and qualifications as the rest of the police force. Neild goes on to discuss some of the challenges associated with the effective operationalization of the police force, including force composition, professionalization and community involvement. She concludes that policing is a “two-way street” that involves both developing and building trust of the police and ensuring that people “understand the nature of law and rights and responsibilities.”    

Profile

At the time of this interview, Rachel Neild was senior adviser on ethnic profiling and police reform with the Equality and Citizenship Program of the Open Society Justice Initiative. She previously worked with the Washington Office on Latin America, where she was involved in monitoring the Salvadoran peace accords and demilitarization policy in Haiti. She also worked with the Andean Commission of Jurists, Peru, and the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights, Costa Rica. Neild has done consultancies on human rights and policing for the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Rights and Democracy, among other organizations.

Full Audio File Size
97 MB
Full Audio Title
Rachel Nelid - Full Interview

Benson Bana

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T
Focus Area(s)
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1
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Daniel Scher
Name
Benson Bana
Interviewee's Position
Senior Lecturer
Interviewee's Organization
University of Dar es Salaam
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
Tanzanian
Town/City
Dar es Salaam
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Benson Bana, a senior lecturer on public administration and human resource at the University of Dar es Salaam, discusses police internal management in Tanzania. He talks about the central focus areas of police reforms: community policing, professionalization and modernization. He stresses the need to define the organization’s core values so as to change people’s mindset and to attune the legal administrative framework and the Police General Orders to the set vision. Bana also notes the significance of human-resource planning. As part of the reform process, he recommends that police install human-resource management information systems to deal with such issues as staff acquisition, training and attrition. He also advocates the formation of a counseling unit to assure the police’s health and safety. In addition, Bana advises the police to set standards and to refine their performance management system so that it reflects modern methods. He highlights the significance of improved legal literacy among the public, support from political leadership, internal and external pressure and the overall demand for accountability and democracy in propelling police reforms. To promote growth and efficiency within the police force, Bana encourages public-private partnerships—provided that the assistance offered does not compromise the police’s integrity.     

Case Study:  Restoring Police Service with a Community Vision: Tanzania, 2006-2009

Profile

At the time of this interview, Benson Bana was a senior lecturer on public administration and human resource management for the Research and Education for Democracy in Tanzania program at the University of Dar es Salaam. He also consulted and conducted research in the same fields. A Tanzanian citizen, Bana earned a doctorate from the University of Manchester in the U.K. He worked in the Tanzanian public service, and as a human resource training and development manager in a multinational company. 

Full Audio File Size
74MB
Full Audio Title
Benson Bana Interview

Robert Perito

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A
Focus Area(s)
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17
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Gordon Peake
Name
Robert Perito
Interviewee's Position
Senior Program Officer
Interviewee's Organization
United States Institute of Peace
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
American
Town/City
Washington, DC
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Robert Perito, a senior program officer with the United States Institute of Peace, recounts his experiences in international police recruitment and training initiatives, including in Haiti, Kosovo, Bosnia and Timor-Leste.  He notes that while effective vetting in the post-conflict context is difficult, it is critical that there be systems to determine who can get into the police. Vetting should be seen as an ongoing process. He notes that in most cases police should be recruited as individuals rather than as entities, and he cautions that security problems are generally not solved simply by integrating militia or illegally armed groups into the official security force. Perito goes on to discuss lessons learned from police training programs in Kosovo and Haiti. This includes the need to adapt training programs to the local context, needs, and skill capacity, in addition to the importance of integrating field-based training with in-class basic skills training. He states that it is imperative to build the capacity of the government structures tasked with effectively managing, supporting and administering the new police force. Training new recruits in mass, he argues, is not effective if the body that governs them is corrupt and lacks necessary capacity. Finally, he notes that while community policing can have a role in police reform, it should not necessarily come at the expense of critical police training. 

Case Studies:  Building the Police Service in a Security Vacuum: International Efforts in Kosovo, 1999-2011 and Building Civilian Police Capacity: Post-Conflict Liberia, 2003-2011

Profile
At the time of this interview, Robert M. Perito directed the United States Institute of Peace's Security Sector Governance Initiative under the Centers of Innovation. He also was a senior program officer in the Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations, where he directed the Haiti and the Peacekeeping Lessons Learned projects. Perito came to USIP in 2001 as a senior fellow in the Jennings Randolph Fellowship program.  Before joining USIP, he served as deputy director of the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program at the U.S. Department of Justice. In that role, he was responsible for providing policy guidance and program direction for U.S. police programs in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Timor-Leste. Perito previously was a career foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State, retiring with the rank of minister counselor.  Perito became involved in international police reform in 1993 when, following the so-called Blackhawk Down incident in Somalia, he worked on the creation of a new Somali police training program. Following U.S. intervention in Haiti in 1994, he led an effort to create a police training program in support of a viable Haitian National Police. Perito taught at Princeton, American, and George Mason universities and earned a master’s in peace operations policy from George Mason.
Full Audio File Size
57 MB
Full Audio Title
Robert Perito - Full Interview

Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili

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Q
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
8
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Matthew Devlin
Name
Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili
Interviewee's Position
International Security Adviser
Interviewee's Organization
National Security Council, Republic of Georgia
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
Georgian
Town/City
Tbilisi
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract
Eka Tkeshelashvili describes police reforms in Georgia. Shortly after it assumed power, the reform government fired the entire traffic police force because of rampant corruption.  Few serious consequences flowed from this decision, though some of those discharged may have joined criminal groups.  She says that the high level of organized crime and paramilitary activity that afflicted Georgia in the early 1990s was more or less under control. In rebuilding the police force, she says, the government recruited candidates with the proper credentials and training, and pay levels were increased significantly. The Police Academy was equipped with more up-to-date facilities and curricula. Prison facilities were reformed and human rights for prisoners gained improved protection.  Police management was decentralized.  External oversight of police activity and of the prisons was improved, and the public was given new ways to report and comment on police performance.
 
Profile
At the time of this interview, Eka Tkeshelashvili was the international security adviser to Georgia's National Security Council. For the last half of 2008, she served as Georgia’s foreign minister. Earlier that year, she was prosecutor general. In 2006 and 2007, she headed the Tbilisi Court of Appeals.  In 2007, she was minister of justice. She first joined the government in 2005 and served as deputy minister of interior. She graduated from the Faculty of International Law and International Relations at Tbilisi State University in 1999.
Full Audio File Size
41MB
Full Audio Title
Eka Tkeshelashvili Interview

Eric Scheye

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A
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
19
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Gordon Peake
Name
Eric Scheye
Interviewee's Position
Independent Consultant
Interviewee's Organization
Justice and Security Sector Development and Conflict Management
Language
English
Town/City
New York, NY
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Eric Scheye discusses his experiences working on police reform programs around the world with the United Nations and as an independent consultant. He begins by discussing the tensions inherent in donor-funded reform programs. As there is often a rush to implement police reform programs, he notes, they are not necessarily tailored to local contexts and circumstances. Scheye goes on to talk about challenges in effective police recruitment and vetting processes, including in Bosnia and Timor-Leste where political maneuvering and ethnic divisions were considerations in developing new police leadership structures. He argues that in order to build long-term accountability, internal reform efforts should take precedence over external accountability mechanisms. Further, in order to retain officers, police training, states Scheye, should be embedded in a management-training program with appropriate incentives. He notes that evaluating a reform program can be challenging and requires political astuteness and listening as much as numbers. Finally, Scheye discusses the provision of policing services in Yemen and Sudan by non-state actors such as customary chiefs. Given that customary chiefs have high levels of legitimacy and wield justice in areas where state police services tend to be limited, Scheye suggests that donors consider new approaches to constructively engaging with non-state actors. 

Profile

At the time of this interview, Eric Scheye was an independent consultant in justice and security sector development and conflict management.   Prior to becoming a consultant, he worked with the United Nations Mission in Bosnia, where he specialized in policing and police development, as well as with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping and the United Nations Development Programme in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Timor-Leste, Honduras, Kosovo and Serbia. Scheye also worked for two and a half years on a U.K.-sponsored integrated justice program in Yemen, where he helped develop a justice and policing program. He has conducted assessments of non-state/local justice and security networks in southern Sudan for the U.S. and U.K., and has had consultancy assignments around the world on behalf of research institutes, non-governmental organizations, the U.N. and government agencies. 

Full Audio File Size
122 MB
Full Audio Title
Eric Scheye - Full Interview

Sifuni Mchome

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T
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7
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Daniel Scher
Name
Sifuni Mchome
Interviewee's Position
Dean, Faculty of Law
Interviewee's Organization
University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
Tanzanian
Place (Building/Street)
University of Dar es Salaam
Town/City
Dar es Salaam
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
Yes
Abstract
Sifuni Mchome, the dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, talks about his involvement in the country's police reform program. Together with a colleague from the university, he discusses how they embarked on rewriting the Police General Orders, which instruct the police on conduct, in order to make the orders more useful in the changing field of law enforcement. The initial document lacked operative principles, it was not up-to-date with the law, it contradicted the Bill of Rights, and it lacked clear instructions on how to conduct an arrest. Mchome also explains the challenges of implementing the reforms, which included logistical problems, limited human and financial resources, the law's lack of guidance on how police power and functions should be discharged, and the absence of a configured law enforcement system to promote intelligence-led policing through the cooperation of entities like the police force, the prisons, and the courts. Through a modernization drive, Mchome describes efforts to empower the police, to retool and to provide new techniques for dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals.  An independent directorate was created under the Ministry of Home Affairs to monitor the police force and to deal with complaints collection.
 
 
Profile
At the time of this interview, Sifuni Mchome was the dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. He previously worked in the Department of Civil and Criminal Law, with a specialty in criminal justice. Mchome previously was involved in policing. He participated in a program run by the Legal Aid Committee of the Faculty of Law, University of Dar Es Salaam, which involved training police officers and prison and judicial officials. 
Full Audio File Size
51MB
Full Audio Title
Sifuni Mchome Interview

William G. O'Neill

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A
Focus Area(s)
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16
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Gordon Peake
Name
William G. O'Neill
Interviewee's Position
Lawyer Specializing in Human Rights
Interviewee's Organization
U.N. missions in Kosovo, Rwanda and Haiti
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
American
Town/City
Brooklyn, New York
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract
William G. O’Neill, a lawyer specializing in international human rights and former senior adviser on human rights for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, discusses his experiences with police sector reform in Haiti, Rwanda, and Kosovo. He begins by discussing police recruitment processes, noting that in countries developing new police forces it is important to think about the desired education, age, geographic, and gender profile of the force. He notes that an important lesson learned is that the police recruitment process takes time. While there is often tension between high quality recruitment and the need to quickly train new forces, O’Neill states that when processes are not set up correctly at the offset, later problems become more difficult to correct. He goes on to discuss local police training programs in Haiti and Kosovo. Two promising developments of the Haiti training program included the use of practical exercises and case studies derived from the Haitian context and the involvement of civil society representatives who discussed their concerns and expectations for the new Haitian National Police. O’Neill concludes by noting that it is important that the police and other relevant parts of the judiciary work together productively from the start of the police reform process.  
Profile

At the time of this interview, William G. O’Neill was a lawyer specializing in international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law. He was senior adviser on human rights in the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, chief of the U.N. Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda and head of the legal department of the U.N./OAS Mission in Haiti. He worked on judicial, police and prison reform in Burundi, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Timor Leste, Nepal and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He investigated mass killings in Afghanistan for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. He also conducted an assessment of the human rights situation in Darfur and trained the U.N.’s human rights monitors stationed there. O’Neill has published widely on the rule of law, human rights and peacekeeping. In 2008, the Social Science Research Council appointed him as director of its Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum. 

Full Audio File Size
88 MB
Full Audio Title
William G O'Neill - Full Interview

Graham Muir

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B
Focus Area(s)
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6
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Arthur Boutellis
Name
Graham Muir
Interviewee's Position
Police Commissioner
Interviewee's Organization
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
Canadian
Town/City
Ottawa
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Graham Muir describes the work of the United Nations Police as part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti from 2005 to 2006.  He goes into detail on multiple aspects of the U.N. mission, including the meaning of the U.N. mandate to the police force as opposed to the military. He also discusses the integration of the existing national police force with the U.N. international police force.  Muir also describes the U.N. police role in training and reform and how that role interacted with security.

Profile

Graham Muir was the commissioner of the United Nations Police as part of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti from 2005 to 2006.  At the time of the interview, he had served 32 years in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  Prior to his service in Haiti, Muir served as the director of general learning and development for the RCMP.  He first became involved in international police work in 1993 as a part of the U.N. Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia.  Between 1993 and 2005 Muir was heavily involved with the training of RCMP members for U.N. police service.  He also had been involved with the Pearson Peace Keeping Center for a number of years at the time of the interview.

 
Full Audio File Size
81 MB
Full Audio Title
Graham Muir - Full Interview

Matthew Sherman

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A
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
28
Critical Tasks
Interviewers
Daniel Scher
Name
Matthew Sherman
Interviewee's Position
Consultant
Interviewee's Organization
Independent
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
American
Town/City
Arlington, VA
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract
Matthew Sherman, former deputy senior adviser and director of policy with Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, discusses the creation and operations of domestic security forces in Iraq. He discusses the challenges of building domestic policing capacity, including in effectively vetting new recruits and ensuring adequate and uniform training and resources. The design of the political system, he notes, has an important bearing on the development of security forces. Decentralization policies, for instance, may change the make-up of local security forces. Sherman remarks that effective security forces development requires building trust and continuity in the political system. Lack of continuity, such as he encountered in Iraq, made it difficult to implement sustainable changes. Other challenges in building domestic police capacity included the politicization of police training programs and trying to prevent rogue elements from infiltrating or shaping the security forces. Sherman concludes by stating that developing quality police capacity, including building adequate mid and senior level capacity, takes time and quantity should not come at the expense of quality. 
Profile

Matthew Sherman worked for more than three years as a civilian official in Iraq, including as a deputy senior adviser and director of policy with Iraq’s Ministry of Interior and the political adviser to the First Cavalry Division, the American military unit in charge of operations throughout Baghdad. Prior to his appointment to Iraq, Sherman had foreign assignments with the U.S. Department of State in Bosnia, Kosovo, Croatia, Montenegro, Ukraine and Moldova, where he served as an election security planner and an international monitor. Most recently, he worked as a principal with SCI Consulting, a senior adviser with the Scowcroft Group, and an adjunct with the RAND Corporation. Sherman received his bachelor's and juris doctor degrees from the University of North Carolina and a master of philosophy degree in international relations from Cambridge University. 

Full Audio File Size
90 MB
Full Audio Title
Matthew Sherman - Full Interview

Samuel Harbor

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I
Focus Area(s)
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7
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Arthur Boutellis
Name
Samuel Harbor
Interviewee's Position
Deputy Resident Representative
Interviewee's Organization
United Nations Development Programme, Sierra Leone
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
Nigerian
Town/City
Freetown
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Samuel Harbor discusses his role as the deputy resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Sierra Leone.  He was particularly involved with efforts to reform the Sierra Leone National Police through increased training, capacity building and coordinating the provision of essential equipment.  Harbor identifies the major challenges that these reform efforts faced, including limited funding, high rates of poverty and low rates of pay for officers, donors acting in a leading rather than a supportive role, and reconciling disparate or rival groups within the police force.  He maintains that each change in policy must be sustainable beyond donor involvement and must be nationally owned and led, and he stresses the importance of reformers clearly delineating their goals.  He expresses optimism about the potential for reform, emphasizing that Sierra Leone had the unique opportunity to essentially start from scratch following the lengthy civil war, and that the country had substantial amounts of untapped valuable natural resources.  He also commends the success that the police force had achieved in community policing and in increasing the proportion of women in the service.     

Profile

At the time of this interview, Samuel Harbor was the deputy resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Freetown, Sierra Leone.  He earned his master’s degree in business administration in the United States, then returned to his native Nigeria to work in banking, the stock exchange and as a consultant for Ernst & Young.  In 1986, he joined the U.N. in Nigeria and later worked with the organization in a number of countries, including Gambia, East Timor and Ethiopia, before Sierra Leone. 

Full Audio File Size
43 MB
Full Audio Title
Samuel Harbor Interview