Policing UK 2013 - Police Federation
Policing UK 2013 - Police Federation
Policing UK 2013 - Police Federation
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
A FORCE FIT FOR THE FUTURE<br />
Global perspective<br />
International police assistance: globalising<br />
<strong>UK</strong> policing practices. By Andy Pritchard<br />
and Dr Georgina Sinclair<br />
Andy Pritchard is an Inspector<br />
with Avon and Somerset<br />
Constabulary<br />
Dr Georgina Sinclair is a<br />
Research Fellow at the Open<br />
University and Academic<br />
Adviser ACPO International<br />
The <strong>UK</strong> police service has a<br />
worldwide reputation for<br />
excellence and for bringing<br />
modern and progressive policing<br />
practices to the international arena where<br />
international policing has been promoted<br />
as a global good.<br />
Within this context, <strong>UK</strong> policing has<br />
international recognition for the core<br />
values perceived as integral to the <strong>UK</strong><br />
police service, centred upon progressive<br />
values and modernisation: the ‘golden<br />
threads’ that bind community-oriented<br />
policing to human rights, equality and<br />
diversity issues.<br />
The <strong>UK</strong> policing brand is multi-faceted,<br />
related to the traditional Peelian values of<br />
‘policing by consent’, remaining essentially<br />
unarmed, while having developed niche<br />
policing skills across specialist areas of<br />
expertise with highly recognised brands<br />
that include Scotland Yard 1 .<br />
Background and current situation<br />
The globalisation of <strong>UK</strong> policing can<br />
be traced to the 19th century when a<br />
variety of different styles and systems<br />
were exported through the British Empire<br />
and Commonwealth and then partly<br />
reintegrated within a domestic forum 2 .<br />
A more formalised transfer of policing<br />
practices occurred with the 1945 Allied<br />
Control Commission in Europe and later<br />
the advent of United Nations-led policing<br />
missions.<br />
However, international policing<br />
assistance per se has increased<br />
substantially since the 1990s as global<br />
security threats have changed from the<br />
state-based challenges of the Cold War<br />
era to the rise of transnational security<br />
threats. These have been linked to a wide<br />
range of issues including environmental<br />
changes, population migration, crime and<br />
terrorism, which have brought about a<br />
reconfiguration of security within world<br />
politics.<br />
The rationales underpinning<br />
international policing are generally<br />
articulated through foreign policy and<br />
international agreements relating to<br />
defence, diplomacy and the development<br />
of fragile states.<br />
The <strong>UK</strong>’s continued involvement in<br />
‘formal’ international policing missions is<br />
highlighted by the government’s pledge to<br />
distribute 0.7 per cent of national income<br />
as aid from <strong>2013</strong>. Within this figure a<br />
substantial proportion relates to security<br />
concerns. The ongoing commitment to<br />
European Union-led (EU) missions (e.g.<br />
EULEX in Kosovo) and United Nations<br />
(UN) missions (e.g. UNMISS in Sierra<br />
Leone) provide further evidence of the<br />
<strong>UK</strong>’s commitment to global development.<br />
The National Security Strategy,<br />
published in October 2010 to correlate<br />
with the Strategic Defence and Security<br />
Review, noted that ‘Britain’s very<br />
openness and deep engagement with the<br />
world means that we can be particularly<br />
vulnerable to overseas events’ 3 .<br />
Current challenges<br />
One key historical legacy of <strong>UK</strong> police<br />
and policing, which has a continuing<br />
impact upon the provision of <strong>UK</strong> officers<br />
for international missions, has been the<br />
lack of a ‘national police service’ and by<br />
extension a central co-ordination point for<br />
stakeholders.<br />
All Home Office and MoD police can<br />
technically provide official international<br />
police assistance, which is governed by<br />
100 | POLICING <strong>UK</strong>