Policing UK 2013 - Police Federation

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