Recent operational experience has identified the need for the United States Government to make better use of law enforcement concepts, skills and organizations to improve outcomes in population centric operations. However, within this broad consensus, there is a lack of common understanding beyond 'we need more police'. Deeper analysis of this problem space quickly identifies not just a lack of common understanding but three varying and overlapping perspectives on the role of law enforcement in this context.
From a military perspective, the value of law enforcement may be seen as enhancing the military's conduct of population centric operations through improved patrolling techniques, investigation, community engagement, graduated use of force etc. Separate to the military perspective is the potential to deploy civilian law enforcement personnel to essentially perform domestic law enforcement tasks, such as community policing, in support of broader operational goals. Finally, there is the perspective focused on long term capacity building and institutional reform of host nation law enforcement agencies, which is a prerequisite for the successful drawing down of international resources and the establishment of ongoing diplomatic relations. It should be noted that all three of these perspectives are valid and, in fact, mutually reinforcing.
The reasons for these different perspectives and associated gaps in USG capability become apparent when one considers that elements of the responsibility for law enforcement capability in international operations reside across the Departments of State, Justice and Defense in addition to USAID's role in capacity building. Additionally there is no single point of Congressional oversight and funding for these various organizations.
To help address this situation, the Emerging Capabilities Division within the Office of the Secretary of Defense sponsored an interagency project on Transitional Law Enforcement aimed at stimulating, informing and providing a framework for discussion on the application of law enforcement in international operations. This was achieved by first documenting the various interagency perspectives and contributions as well as the specific functions of TLE in international operations. This was supported by an analysis of the USG authorities (legislation, policies, directives, etc) that govern various aspects of TLE. The project also covered international models for deploying law enforcement expertise including a detailed analysis of the capabilities of the Australian Federal Police's International Deployment Group as well as issues associated with international supply and demand for law enforcement and an overview of the law enforcement communities and international contributions of sixteen major donor nations.
The Peacekeeping and Stabilization Operations Institute has uploaded these documents for use by any interested organization. These documents are the first set of deliverables in an ongoing body of work which investigates the role of law enforcement on international operations.
Ben Fitzgerald is the Principal for Noetic Corporation, a strategy firm focused on national and homeland security issues. Scott Brady, a former Australian Army officer, is a senior analyst with Noetic.