Police Missions
What is a Police Mission? - A
police mission is a project/program sponsored by the United Nations, The
European Union (EU), NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) or the US State Department. These programs use International
Civilian Police (CivPol) officers to carry out "the mission."
So what is CIVPOL? - CIVPOL is
simply an acronym for Civilian Police. This is to diferentiate for
anything being a military program.
The Mechanics of U.S. CIVPOL:
Most other countries that provide CIVPOL have national police forces and
related personnel mechanisms to deploy officers for overseas service.
Because the United States does not maintain a national police force,
we must seek volunteers on an individual basis. To handle such a large task,
the State Department contracts with private companies, currently
DynCorp
International,
Civilian Police International LLC, and
PAE Government
Services, Inc. The contractors implement requirements provided by the
State Department to recruit, select, equip, and deploy police from all over
the country. After conducting a rigorous screening process, the companies
contract with individual officers to provide their salary and benefits for
one year.
Following pre-deployment training in the United States, officers are sent to
the mission area and are "seconded" to the UN (or other sponsoring
organization -- such as the OSCE). In mission, officers are under the
operational control of the sponsoring organization, which also provides
officers with an allowance to cover food, lodging, and incidental expenses.
The contractors maintain offices in the mission areas to handle
administrative and support (e.g. medical) issues, and assist with programs
designed to improve quality of life (i.e., video libraries, fitness
equipment).
Throughout the life of a mission, the State Department provides funding and
oversight for mission operations, manages U.S. policy on CIVPOL operations
and other related law enforcement and civilian security issues, provides
bilateral assistance to local police forces, engages with the UN and other
CIVPOL contributing countries on mission priorities and challenges, and
keeps Congress, other U.S. Government agencies, and the White House informed
of progress. (from U.S. State Dept)
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