Graham Mathias

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Reinstating the Rule of Law - Establishing the
foundation for development and security

• Presented by
• Graham Mathias
• International Parliamentary Conference on
  Peacebuilding Tackling State Fragility
• Tuesday 2 February

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Reinstating the Rule of Law - Establishing the
foundation for development and security

• Focus on
• Priorities that should drive post conflict SSR
• How the international community should engage
  without compromising local ownership
• The importance of Democratic (Community) Policing
  to this process

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• To maintain at all times a relationship with the
  public that gives reality to the tradition that
  the police are the public and the public are the
  police. The police being only members of the
  public that are paid to give full time attention
  to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in
  the interests of community welfare and existence
• (Sir Robert Peel 1829)
• Policing in a Democracy is far to important to
  be left to the police alone

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What is Community Policing?

• The police working in partnership with the
  community
• The community thereby participating in its own
  policing
• And the two working together, mobilising
  resources, to solve problems affecting public
  safety over the longer term rather than the
  police, merely reacting, short term to incidents
  as they occur

5
What institutional reforms should international
assistance promote within the police if
democratic government is to be created

• Four reforms are essential
• Police must be accountable to the law rather than
  to government
• (Note In a democracy police, actions must
  be governed by the rule of law rather than orders
  by particular regimes and their members.
  Democratic police do not make the law, they apply
  it)

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• Police must protect human rights, especially
  those rights that are required for the sort of
  political activity that is the hallmark of
  democracy
• (Note Democracy requires not only that the
  police be constrained by the law but that they
  focus on activities that are essential to it,
  e.g. freedom of speech exercising powers of
  arrest and detention)

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• 3. Police must be accountable to people outside
  their organisation
• (Note Rule of Law is an empty promise if police
  cannot be made accountable for its individuals
  and institutions)

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• Police must give operational priority to
  servicing the needs of individual citizens
• (Quality of service)

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The challenge

• Balancing national security against individual
  rights.
• The balance must be struck between
• Protecting society from terrorism and
  safeguarding human rights
• Information sharing and maintaining respect for
  privacy
• Police transparency and protecting police
  sources and methods
• Police independence and public accountability

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The realisation of Community Policing from
principles to operational practices is dependent
on

• Acceptance and commitment by police officers
  throughout the organisation that this is the core
  function of all activity
• All policing is community policing
• Adequate, appropriate and realistic allocation of
  resources so that policing can shift from a
  reactive approach to a proactive partnership one
• Acceptance, commitment and support of the
  communities for this style and model of policing