The Afghanistan National Police (ANP)

[120mm]

Not sure on what you mean by the population density bit. As for reporting, each province is a "Division" that reports to the National Headquarters (with a Commissioner) that is responsible to the Minister of Public Safety.

I should say the same to you when the topic of Constitutionalism comes up....

But yes, that's obvious - I was simply responding to 120mm's statement that there are no centralized police forces that exist without the mandate of enforcing tyranny. I think the RCMP may be a model that proves the statement wrong, unless 120mm and myself have different conceptions of "national police force".

Cheers,

Infanteer

On the surface, Germany has a "national police force" as well, but if you look more closely, it is really a series of regional police forces that have different rules and social mores, adapted to the region they are policing.

I am assuming the RCMP also has a different M.O. and culture for each region.

Not so much with the ANP. They send that Hazara Captain to Kandahar and tell him to "enforce the peace".

And they send that Pashtun officer to Herat and tell him to do likewise.

There is "some" attempts to localize the ANP, but most of those are window-dressing, based upon my observations.

[Dayuhan]

The Philippines has a national, centrally led police force, and I wouldn't exactly say its mandate is enforcing tyranny, though it is certainly corrupt. At one time the police were under the control of municipal, provincial, and city governments, and city governments, but they quickly became in many cases little more than government-paid thugs working for mayors and governors, with a definite mandate to enforce tyranny. That still happens, but at least the central authority has the ability to shuffle the deck and transfer officers that get too cozy with local authority... even if that ability isn't always used, or is used too late. Very much imperfect, but better than it was in the days of local control.

How that would work in Afghanistan I don't know... probably not very well, like everything else. There is no system that will not be corrupted if the people running it are corrupt. I'd only point out that a central police force isn't necessarily or at all times a worse or more tyrannical alternative. I guess that would depend on where the loci of tyranny - especially that tyranny that affects the common people - really are. Local governments can be every bit as tyrannical, within their bailiwicks, as central ones.

[davidbfpo]

A commentary on FRI, which opens with:

This week, I’d like to address one of the biggest threats to those of us in the Kabul expat community: the Afghan government security apparatus. I was inspired to write this up after hearing that the Ministry of Interior is now insisting that all PSC’s in Kabul, whether foreign or not, must submit weekly movement plans to them for approval. Apparently, it just went into effect. If this policy was instituted by any other government, I would probably agree with it, but I guarantee this is just another ridiculous Afghan policy designed to harass foreigners. The primary harassers will be the ANSF, as always.

Link:http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=4346#comments

Apart from the mention of the ANP I think the comment on the NDS is of note.

[120mm]

I've been rolled up by the NDS twice. They were professional to a point, but still; you do not want to be rolled up by the NDS.

Your tax dollars at work, though. This is what happens when you pretend a puppet state is actually a sovereign nation. They act out in really stupid and self-defeating ways.

[Infanteer]

I visited the NDS compound a few times during my tour. My ANA counterpart did not look comfortable when I dragged him in - the second time he wouldn't even go.

They seem to be a bunch of shady dudes with pistols that know the whereabouts of every insurgent and talk to them frequently....

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to Circling the Lion's Den a pointer to a Human Rights Watch report on the Afghan Local Police (ALP).

Comment:http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot....s-failing.html

Cited HRW report:http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/fil...1webwcover.pdf

One chapter is entitled:

The Afghan Local Police:“Community Watch with AK-47s"

[Jedburgh]

CNA, 15 Jan 12: What do Afghans want from the Police? Views from Helmand Province

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the international community expect the Afghan police to play a crucial role in maintaining stability in Afghanistan as international troops withdraw. With foreign police trainers, mentors, and advisors remaining in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future, the question of what sort of force they should be training is of increasing importance. The ANSF Development Division (C10) at RC (SW) requested this study to examine what government officials, community leaders, and ordinary residents in Helmand want from the police, so that police mentors will know where they should focus their efforts. RC (SW) leaders recognized that, unless the Afghan government, community leaders, and public want the type of police force the international community is training, the police force will not be maintained after international forces withdraw....

...Residents of Helmand find it difficult to imagine a police force as found in Western countries because Afghanistan has never had community police. Although Westerners consider it self-evident that police should be professional, provide security, assist with law enforcement, and respond to the public's calls for assistance, the view from Helmand is more nuanced. It does not appear that residents of Helmand want the type of police force that is familiar to small-town Americans.