Asymmetric Policing

[jmm99]

who never heard of or saw the phrase "asymmetric policing" before your post. Anyway, I Googled the phrase and came up with Stephen L. Mallory, The Concept of Asymmetric Policing. Since there are a number of real law enforcement people here, I hand off to them for comment.

You come up with interesting topics - I thought MPs were supposed to be dull, etc.

Seriously, my dad's slightly older brother was one on Okinawa in WWII. His best story was about when he had to arrest one of his best friends from our hometown (after the guy broke his 1SG's wrist). So, the poke wasn't serious - Uncle Mac was far from dull.

Cheers

Mike

[Tom Odom]

Assymetric Policing:

fist--use a club

club--use a bigger club

knife--use a gun

gun--many guns

many guns--National Guard (never forget the Air National Guard)

How am I doing, Slap?

Tom

[davidbfpo]

OftheTroops cited:

What i believe it means is like asymmetric warfare applying low-tech solutions to complex problems? My experience was using whistles in place of radios and maps instead of complex computer tracking. I may be on the wrong track but I think it is an interesting topic of discussion that could go many places. Given that most places in the western world (technology dependent) provides assistance to post-conflict nations (technology resistant), asymmetric solutions are a key to success.

A good point and recent experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan - some reflected in a variety of threads here - from this armchair should add to the very poor, police knowledge base on assisting non-Western partners. It is simply not written down or published, so has to be re-learnt. Official, state programmes invariably start with Security Sector Reform (SSR) and de-militarisation. Or we have the much criticised German assistance to the ANP, which now appears to have been "lost" and replaced by a US effort.

Years ago when I did look at this police aspect I found that two Western nations stood out: the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Much of the international effort is aimed at strategy and senior management. Plus some training, e.g. Belgain input to public order / riot control training in South Africa. Rarely does anything appear to end at the bottom or frontline.

It might be worth trying to find reports etc on how the assistance given in Kosovo and East Timor has worked. There are plenty of other places to look, but as the two cases involved the UN maybe easier to find information, but not personal reflections.

davidbfpo

[slapout9]

Assymetric Policing:

fist--use a club

club--use a bigger club

knife--use a gun

gun--many guns

many guns--National Guard (never forget the Air National Guard)

How am I doing, Slap?

Tom

Tom, you got it man. You should be able to get one of those Multi-Million Dollar Police adviser contracts......no, wait you have to be a motivational speaker too

[slapout9]

OfTheTroops,
1-On the low tech end teaching officers to use their notebook and pen and a good 3X5 card index system has probably solved more crimes than anything. In the computer age I think we have lost that essential skill.
2-From where you are located you may want to research the fact that for a brief time there was a Special Forces MP unit that existed.
3-As David mentioned Police departments in general do not have a lessons learned capability. Much of what I learned(the good stuff anyway) was passed down to me from older officers almost like an apprenticeship method. I often thought we needed a Field Manual System like the Military that could be distributed and updated in the same way to Police Departments All across the country.
4-Teaching Police how to do a 5 Rings analysis or ASCOPE analysis with pen and paper would have a lot of benefit, doing it by hand in the field teaches the Police/COIN thinking methodology. I used to do my stuff with a crime scene/traffic accident template. I guess they still make those. It is visual method of crime/problem solving in general.

More as I think of it.
Also what does PTT stand for? It is in your Bio?

[OfTheTroops]

PTT= Police Transition Team or PMT= Police Mentor Team

Our police advisors often get hung up on the lack of technological capabilities or just do not know how it was done before. ( Before formflow, pure edge, Computers in patrol cars, computers in their pockets) Not knowing how we did it before we say "these guys are backwards because they keep there records in binders and not on some god-awful database." I was taught that the officer's most powerful tool is his observations and his notebook but I do not know the "fieldcraft" that you mentioned or the most effective/ commonly used gap stoppers. I now feel like my dad should tell me, "Well go look it up." And I will eventually.... Just thought you guys might have some leads and I think it is an interesting and relevant discussion.

[davidbfpo]

Go back to basics. What did a police officer (PC) carry and what did he do?

In the UK and a number of colonial situations the PC had a uniform (including boots to walk in), a whistle, a personal weapon (not always a firearm) and a notebook. Some training in law and procedure - often more "learnt on the job".

Jump forward to today and place the PC in 'Chaos Country' (hat tip to Tom Odom). Uniform (less not more), communication device (radio, mobile phone etc), weaponary, training (far more maybe), trainers and transport even and a notebook (yes I concede in Chaos illiteracy and informal conflict resolution maybe factors).

I cannot believe that a proper assessment is lacking before deployment of trainers, PTT etc and resourcing. That's the advantage of an armchair.

davidbfpo

[jmm99]

This is focused on the need for judicial system training (of judges, lawyers and police) in Astan - the hurdles to overcome.

The most candid assessments have been done by the Afghanistan Justice Sector Support Program (JSSP). The important publications are the first four documents:

•Assessment of the Justice Sector in Kunduz Province, Oct 2007 (37 pages)

•Assessment of Provincial Defense Capabilities, Sept 2007 (70 pages)

•The State of Regional Justice Systems in Balkh Herat and Nangarhar, Dec 2006 (79 pages)

•Briefing Report (JSSP goals, activities and accomplishments to date), October 2007 (34 pages)

Unfortunately, these are for only four provinces (and, at the time, fairly secure ones at that). The assessments have not been updated since 2007; but there are reports (less candid and complete than the assessments, IMO) through Nov 2008 on the webpage.

My evaluation is that the judges have serious problems (probably fixable), and the lawyers (including prosecutors) are near-FUBAR. I have my thoughts about the ANP, but would like first to have your opinions as LE professionals on that part of the assessments.

Based on the assessments, police training (looking at a relatively short time frame of years, not decades) would have to be very basic indeed. Paper and pencils would seem to work for pictographs (don't count on literacy) - so, Slap's suggestion to draw rings and other pictures is not a bad one.

Happy reading

Mike

[slapout9]

PTT= Police Transition Team or PMT= Police Mentor Team

Our police advisors often get hung up on the lack of technological capabilities or just do not know how it was done before. ( Before formflow, pure edge, Computers in patrol cars, computers in their pockets) Not knowing how we did it before we say "these guys are backwards because they keep there records in binders and not on some god-awful database." I was taught that the officer's most powerful tool is his observations and his notebook but I do not know the "fieldcraft" that you mentioned or the most effective/ commonly used gap stoppers. I now feel like my dad should tell me, "Well go look it up." And I will eventually.... Just thought you guys might have some leads and I think it is an interesting and relevant discussion.

One thing I would do would be to contact the FBI National Academy and request a list of all Foreign police officers that have attended their Academy. If you can find any current or former Police Officers in the your country of interest this would be a big help in assessing the situation and give you a place to start building relationships. I don't know what the protocol is to request such information now a days, but you have their number give them a call and see what happens.