US support for OSCE policing drive will help fight terrorism and organized crime

WASHINGTON D.C., 23 October 2002 - More effective policing in the volatile Central Asia region adjoining Afghanistan is among measures that will help the United States and its allies in the region to combat terrorism and crime, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said today.

International terrorism and organized crime both thrive in an environment of lax security, where trust in the police is low and legitimate expressions of differing political opinion are often suppressed. The results can be felt far from the original source of the problems.

The OSCE, a 55-nation security organization with a strong human rights record, is urging the United States and its international partners to back a new drive to build up the quality of policing in OSCE participating States.

"With its broad membership and comprehensive approach to security, the OSCE is uniquely placed to prevent conflicts and deal with post-conflict situations," OSCE Secretary General Jan Kubis said. "The OSCE has a proven expertise in policing, gained in the Balkans, where many U.S. police officers have served with distinction."

He was speaking in Washington after meeting with senior officials from the U.S. State Department and National Security Council.

The Secretary General said the OSCE, comprising the United States, Canada, all the countries of Europe and the former Soviet Union, including the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus, had refocused its activities in the wake of the terrorist atrocities in the USA on September 11.

"The OSCE's current focus in the fight against terrorism is in four key areas - policing, border security, anti-trafficking and cutting off terrorist financing," he said. "These are areas in which the OSCE has, or is rapidly developing, a real comparative advantage."

Improved policing would not only reduce crime and improve the lives of ordinary people in the countries concerned. It would also help to curb the international spread of transnational organized crime which could threaten the fabric of society in the United States, Western Europe and elsewhere.

"Criminals are already co-operating internationally," Secretary General Kubis said. "It is vital that the international community should unite to tackle this modern scourge. The OSCE is keen to play its part."

The OSCE's comprehensive approach to security includes the promotion of human rights, democratization and economic well-being, alongside political and politico-military measures. The Organization is heavily operational, with nearly 4,000 international and local staff working in 19 field missions in south-eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The Organization's newly-appointed Senior Police Adviser, Richard Monk, is spearheading a drive to build up police capacity in countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.

Monk, a former New Scotland Yard Commander who has 35 years of police experience in Britain and abroad, is asking the United States and other OSCE countries to provide experienced, top-quality police officers with proven expertise in areas such as forensics, crime intelligence systems, hostage rescue and public order.

The officers would be deployed on short-term assignments in the countries concerned, where they would provide training and share their expertise with their local counterparts.

"There is an inclination in some quarters to regard terrorism as being beyond the sphere of conventional criminal activity," said Monk, a former Commissioner of the United Nations International Police Task Force (IPTF) in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"Well, it isn't. Its darkly sinister aims are nothing other than a criminal conspiracy and it sustains itself and executes its purpose by means which are entirely criminal."

The OSCE countries neighbouring Afghanistan face major problems including poverty, rampant organized crime, religious fanaticism, and trafficking in weapons, drugs and human beings: "In many cases, the police forces are ill-equipped and lack proper training to tackle serious crime," Monk said.

"There is ample evidence to show that policing plays a vital role in preventing conflict, preserving social stability during a political crisis and in post-conflict rehabilitation. It is equally apparent that without effective law enforcement and respect for the institutions of the rule of law, there can be no social, political or economic stability."

"The OSCE alone has experiences from its strong field presence and operations, institutional influence and broad membership to provide the long-term engagement required."

The OSCE's Strategic Police Matters Unit will offer OSCE participating States long-term assistance programmes, run by experienced professionals with the experience and authority to win the respect of their local police partners. It aims to build up a database of police experts who can be deployed as required.

"Respect for the human rights of detainees will be a constant thread running through our programmes," Richard Monk said. "Honesty, integrity and the respect of the community are vital for effective policing."

For example, proper training in interviewing victims and witnesses or interrogating suspects enables police to make maximum use of information essential to successful enquiries. "If you get this right, there is no need for the aggressive or abusive treatment of detainees which is all too common in some countries," Monk said.

Likewise, effective crime intelligence systems, enabling analysts to link crimes and criminals, are a cornerstone of modern police investigation techniques: "Sophisticated systems help to open up additional lines of enquiry for investigating officers and provide proof for courts, removing the need to rely on interrogation and confessions," Monk added.

The OSCE has gained invaluable experience of law enforcement in Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (including Kosovo and southern Serbia) and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Richard Monk wants to build on that expertise and create new practical police programmes that will make a measurable difference in new areas.

"The United States has some of the finest police officers in the world and it has been generous in supporting policing activities in the Balkans," he said. "U.S. backing for this new police programme, with a particular focus on Central Asia, will help us to tackle international terrorism and organized crime effectively and at source."

Steve Bennett, Director of the Kosovo Police Service Training School, said the OSCE's experience in Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had proven that long-term programmes to improve policing do bear fruit.

"In all the countries where the OSCE has been involved in policing, things have improved as a result of our presence," said Bennett, a former U.S. Marine Corps trainer and member of the state of Oregon's board of public safety.

That experience has also demonstrated that even officers trained in a more authoritarian tradition can make the switch to a democratic style of policing: "We have had a lot of success in changing the culture of those organisations," Bennett said. "A lot of the old-line police leadership have, to different degrees, come on board with the new ideas."

Since it was established in 1999, Kosovo's police school has put more than 5,500 Kosovo Police Service officers - from all ethnic groups in the province - through basic training. Despite the region's recent history of bitter ethnic conflict, officers from both the ethnic Albanian and Serbian communities now patrol the streets side by side.

Alongside fundamental police skills - everything from defensive tactics to traffic control and criminal investigation - recruits also learn basic principles of human rights, police ethics and community relations.

A dramatic improvement in the province's crime statistics testifies to improved security in Kosovo, helped by the success of the training programme. The number of murders fell 52 per cent in 2001 from a year earlier while robberies were down 73 per cent, arson fell 58 per cent and the number of burglaries dropped more than 10 per cent.

"Kosovo's crime rate now stands comparison with that of almost any western country," Bennett said.

He has no doubt that a sustained improvement in policing can help to stem cross-border crime and terrorism: "Borders are becoming increasingly insignificant," Bennett said.

"Because of the mobility of crime, countries have to work together. If there is a major crime problem and a lack of internal controls in any state which is left unchecked, then it can grow into something that becomes a threat to everybody in the world.

"Look at Afghanistan and the Taliban. It was the neglect of what they were doing in that country that allowed them to have a terrorist base of operation. A different type of policing apparatus could have checked that earlier and maybe saved us from September 11."