US cop to help Liberia police

2003-11-11 13:16

Monrovia - A retired American police chief arrived in Liberia's capital to head a special UN mission tasked with rebuilding this still volatile and war-shattered nation's ill-trained and ill-equipped police force.

Former Portland, Oregon police chief Mark Kroeker, who arrived on Sunday, will lead over 1 100 civilian police officers from 46 countries around the world, including Russia, Thailand, Norway, Sweden, Jordan and a number of African nations.

Kroeker is one of 10 foreign police officers already in Monrovia. The rest are due to land in Liberia over the next few months.

They are here in addition to a growing peacekeeping mission that's helping secure an August peace deal that ended years of civil war in the West African nation.

Kroeker, 59, said in an interview late on Monday his greatest challenge will be making sure "we have the resources that are needed to train, equip, deploy and ensure that all the technical experience is installed in the new police."

"Our responsibility is not to be their government or to be their police, but to enhance and develop and grow a police that will become something that every Liberian will be happy to have."

Liberia's current police force, numbering about 3 500 to 4 000, is poorly equipped, irregularly paid and rife with corruption.

The United Nations says it will be disbanded and rebuilt under a UN mandate. New officers could come from the former force; all would have to go through background checks, Kroeker said.

"We will have very rigorous standards of competency," Kroeker said. "It will be open to men to women; it will be open to all parts of the country. But there will be standards and those standards will be the beginning of what will become a truly effective and professional community-based police organisation."

- AP