Policing UK 2013 - Police Federation

A FORCE FIT FOR THE FUTURE
different legal provisions: section 26 of
the Police Act 1996 (England and Wales),
the equivalent section 12A of the Police
(Scotland) Act 1967 and section 8 of the
Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 in
Northern Ireland.
All appointments require the approval
of the Home Secretary, the Minister of
Justice for Northern Ireland or Scottish
Ministers and the relevant Police
Authority. The 2008 Policing Green Paper
supported the creation of an International
Police Assistance Board (IPAB), chaired by
the ACPO International portfolio holder
(Chief Constable Colin Port) “to help
co-ordinate and focus activity where it is
most in the interests of the UK” 4 .
Established in 2009, this senior crossdepartmental
and police advisory body
has a primary objective of facilitating and
enhancing UK police assistance overseas
from government departments, individual
police services and agencies and to provide
a key co-ordination point for the referral
process between government departments
and the police service.
However, IPAB’s terms of reference
do not include counter-terrorism or
operational policing in an international
environment. In recognising this
fragmentation coupled with a lack of
direct funding, ACPO International
Affairs (ACPO IA) was established in June
2010 to become the central co-ordinator
for all international policing.
Growth industry
Despite these changes, a future mapping
exercise will be needed across the range
of international policing providers to fully
understand the extent of international
policing services currently being delivered
across all sectors.
International police assistance has
become something of a growth industry,
with requests for UK policing from the
UN, the EU, the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and
other multinational organisations, as well
as the governments of individual countries
– often those with long-standing historic
links to the Commonwealth.
Today there is an increased demand for
the use of UK police (serving and retired
officers) within missions that stem directly
from UK foreign policy: this involves both
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s
(FCO) conflict-related policing assistance
(e.g. Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan),
and the Department for International
Development’s (DfID) increased
‘investment’ in broader security and access
to justice programmes, as well as myriad
ad hoc overseas missions. The activities
of the FCO, DfID and the MoD have
been supported by the cross-departmental
Stabilisation Unit (SU) since 2004 and its
SU Policing Team (SUPT) set up in April
2011.
A multi-partnership approach
In broad strategy terms the UK
government recognises the link between
organised crime, corruption and terrorism
in failed states and the metropole though
has as yet to put in place a formal
international policing policy. The ongoing
and future delivery of international
policing assistance is challenged by the
current restructuring within the police and
ensuing austerity measures.
The National Crime Agency (NCA)
has been set up to promote the national
security agenda within a globalised world
and to tackle organised crime through
a multi-partnership approach. This
represents an opportunity for international
policing activities to be fully integrated
within NCA global practice.
In addition, the new elected police
and crime commissioners may focus
predominantly on local policing issues
with little perception of the transnational
security links. Moreover the uncertainty
as to the future rehousing of international
policing within a police professional body
with no dedicated funding may challenge
the provision of serving UK police
overseas.
As a result, the UK policing brand will
remain challenged by the state-corporate
symbiosis; a growing private sector that
provides ample opportunities for retired
officers. This raises questions in relation to
the protection of the UK policing brand
value should retired officers use ‘out-ofdate’
policing services.
The deployment of officers from
individual constabularies has depended
on the willingness of Chief Constables
(and now police and crime commissioners)
to agree to an officer’s secondment, to
cover their post, and guarantee a post on
return from mission. Chief Constables
are measured on their local performance
and there is little incentive to engage with
international policing. Therefore some
Chief Constables are either in opposition
to or uninterested in international policing
and see a contradiction between issues
of global security and local policing
considerations.
There is currently no commonlyheld
police view as to whether there are
additional benefits for a constabulary
when an officer returns home from
mission. Yet recent research has
demonstrated that international missions
have the potential to enhance the skillbase
of police in ways that could benefit
their future career pathway, their ‘home’
constabularies and importantly the wider
public community, thus reinvesting the
value of international policing back home.
Despite evidence that officers return
with, for example, improved leadership
skill and cultural awareness, international
missions can be a career cul de sac.
The future of international policing
Retaining this international reputation
for excellence and the unique ability to
transfer the values inherent within the
UK policing service is wholly dependent
on the wider support of UK government
and police. ACPO IA (and by extension
IPAB) have created a one-stop-shop for the
delivery of international policing services,
providing easy access to UK police and
stakeholders which is not available within
the private sector.
Through a future enhancement of
corporate memory, the co-ordinating
activities of this central hub will be
strengthened and will provide a platform
for a potential regulation mechanism
straddling the state-corporate sectors.
This will ensure that the UK policing
brand retains its value and integrity on the
international stage. In doing so it would
bring the overseas co-ordination of UK
policing into line with other important
international players, including the
Australian Federal Police and the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police.
1
Sinclair, G. ‘Exporting the UK Police ‘Brand: The RUC-
PSNI and the International Agenda’, Policing: A Journal of
Policy and Practice, Vol. 6, No. 1 (March, 2012), pp. 44-66
2
Sinclair, G. & Williams, C. A. ‘Home and Away, The
Cross-Fertilisation between ‘Colonial’ and ‘British’ Policing,
1921-85’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 35,
No. 2, (May, 2007), pp. 221-238
3
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, ‘A Strong Britain in an
Age of Uncertainty: the National Security Strategy’, Cmnd
7953 (London: FCO, Oct. 2010).
4
httpfiles.homeoffice.govpolicepolicinggreenpaper.pdf
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