21st Century Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) Papers - Fostering a Police Reform Paradigm - Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan, Paramilitary, Community Policing

Of all the myriad of lessons learned in recent conflicts, the importance of police forces, to counter insurgencies and maintain security, is well-recognized. The police may be civilian, military or combination of types of police. Numerous articles, studies, and books have been published about all aspects of police reform but this monograph takes a different approach. It combines the theoretical with the applied and provides practical and historical applications of police reform. The authors have diverse experiences - Ms. Finkenbinder, a career in municipal and state policing before moving into academia; Professor Millen, a retired Army officer and PKSOI Security Sector Reform analyst, and Colonel Lowe, a senior military police officer with 23 years of experience as a teacher, staff officer and commander. Combined, they have more than sixty years of experience teaching, mentoring and reforming police.
Precisely, because of this, they understand that police reform is more than a checklist of outputs. It requires a paradigm shift from being focused on policing tasks to one that understands the rational and moral foundation of police forces and how they fit into society. Police reform needs to know the distinction between the Rule of Law and Rule by Law and how the latter can be used to perpetuate evil in the name of the state. Police reform needs a blueprint for building stabile police organizations and that blueprint is doctrine. But, none of it matters without the practical application involved in hiring the right people for the right tasks. The authors have tried to balance the philosophical, doctrinal and practical considerations to encourage a police reform paradigm - one that is based upon human rights, yet respectful of cultural differences. It is our pleasure to publish this foundational paper, focused on the fundamentals of police reform.

Topics and subjects include: Rule of Law, Rule by Law, Meaning of Justice, National Police, Local Police, paramilitary, community policing, Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland

Foreword * The Relationship between the Nation-State and its Police Forces * The Difference between Rule of Law and Rule by Law * The Meaning of Justice * The Old West Allegory * Bolstering the Police through Burden-Sharing * Reforming a Nation's Police * Types of Police * Democratic Policing * Methods of Delivery (Models) Professional * Community Policing * Training * Practical and Historical Applications of Police Reforms * Lagging Behind: Police Reform in Iraq * Looking Back—What Needs to Happen for the future? * Conclusion * Endnotes