Community Policing and Building Confidence in Minority Communities

(Prepared for delivery)

The United States thanks ODIHR [Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights], the Senior Police Advisor, and the Chairman in Office for convening this Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on community policing.

The role of police in a democratic society is vital. Of all the organs of government, the police are most frequently in contact with the people, at all levels of society. They are the most visible factor of a government's commitment to human rights.

As the first to respond to crimes and the first to defend the rights of the individual, police define an administration's stance on human rights. A professional police force wins the confidence of the community it serves and is the first instance of security building measures, and conflict resolution.

Community policing can promote tolerance -- not only through the ethnic diversity of a police force, but through the comportment of police officers trained to work with all elements of a community regardless of ethnicity.

Community policing is a specific philosophy and way of operating that includes citizen and civil society input -- necessary in any functioning democratic government structure. Community police forces are inherently multi-faceted including in their duties more than routine law enforcement, and pay greater attention to personal service.

A greater involvement of citizens and civil society in community policing not only provides police with needed information to solve crimes, but also necessitates a greater level of transparency in police operations. Increased transparency in turn helps to foster police accountability to the community, decreasing the risk of corruption, and police abuse, including cases of torture in pre-trial detention centers.

Citizen involvement can take various forms, including special advisory boards of citizens who meet regularly with the senior law enforcement officials, or related personnel, or public town meetings, where police and community can exchange information on policies, priorities, and issues. We encourage participating States, the Senior Police Advisor, and the High Commissioner on National Minorities to encourage open exchanges in appropriate venues between police and local communities throughout the OSCE region, but especially in areas where dialogue with minority communities, including Roma and Sinti, is needed. Field missions should assist, when and where possible.

Implementing community policing also calls on police to provide an array of services -- for example police in Bosnia often execute court orders to return property to minority returnees, or in the United States where police can help provide protection to domestic violence victims or trafficking victims.

This necessitates partnerships and liaison with other government agencies, and with non-governmental organizations, which have accumulated expertise and community trust. Therefore, an effective community policing requires the full participation and cooperation of government leaders at all levels. We encourage participating States to fulfill their Bucharest Decision number 9 commitment to increase community-policing capacities.

Furthermore, to translate the philosophy of community policing into action, programs will need to be re-oriented, for instance tailoring patrolling and outreach policies to fit the needs of the community.

Police should also establish stronger bonds with neighborhoods so that they know their neighborhoods and are known in them. If implemented this can decrease potential police abuse, and when it does occur, make it easier for victims to identify and hold offending police officers accountable for their actions.

Crime prevention can be achieved through such things as youth oriented crime prevention programs such as recreation and mentoring programs -- which likewise can be used to increase contacts between ethnic groups and cross-cultural communication. We encourage the HCNM and the Senior Police Advisor to develop such youth programs in the OSCE region. Again, OSCE field presences should also assist, where applicable.

In closing, I would like to note that the appropriate support from all levels of government and training are essential for the successful implementation of community policing.

Well-trained and responsible individual police need to be given authority to take on a more active role in conflict resolution and solving problems.

Police need to receive appropriate training to include human rights training, training about ethics and good governance, as well as training on the philosophy of community policing and training in multi-cultural relations and mediation.

We are encouraged that the Senior Police Advisor is including the philosophy of community policing in his Kyrgyzstan Model Police Training Center. We would encourage him to develop community-policing training programs throughout the OSCE region, especially in Central Asia and the Caucasus. We encourage him to work with ODIHR to include human rights training, and with the HCNM to include cultural and mediation training, as well.

Again, the United States welcomes this Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on community policing. We believe this meeting is an important step to further convey to participating States what community policing is, how it can be achieved, and the benefits community policing provides in including citizens and civil society in law enforcement decisions.