The Challenges and Opportunities of Security Sector Reform in Post ...

agriculture, and health, to mention a few critical sectors. The mission and structure for
the new armed forces should reflect from the threats that face the country, and should go
beyond its historical links with the United States.
3.2. From ‘Taylor’s Police’ to Liberian Police
The reform of the police force is evidently of very high priority in a society that has
witnessed years of brutal war, and particularly the centralisation, personalisation and
militarisation of the police under Taylor. The police had essentially been a means of
keeping some of the NPFL fighters employed when Taylor came to power in 1997.
Police reform is therefore an important aspect of UNMIL’s mandate. The Liberian
National Police is heavily politicised. Under Charles Taylor, they were militarised and
used weapons indiscriminately against civilians; most of the estimated 4,000 LNP came
from Taylor’s NPFL militias. 68
The CPA gives policing responsibilities during the transition period to the United
Nations Civil Police (UN CivPol). CivPol was charged the training of a new police force
(CPA Article VIII 4, 5). Article VIII (1) also stipulates that:
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There shall be an immediate restructuring of the National Police Force, the
Immigration Force, Special Security Service (SSS), custom security guards and such
other statutory security units. These restructured security forces shall adopt a
professional orientation that emphasises democratic values and respect for human
rights, a non-partisan approach to duty and the avoidance of corrupt practices.
The National Police Academy was reopened on 12 July 2004. Candidates for the new
force could come from within and outside the Liberia National Police. The UNMIL
gender component works with UNMIL civilian police to ensure 15% are women.
Training commenced for an initial group of 132 cadets in July 2004. According to the
latest report of the UN Secretary General to the Security Council, as at June 2005, ‘401
National police and 33 Special Security Services officers have graduated from the
National police Academy, 439 are participating in an initial three month basic training;
684 cadets have moved on to field training; and 34 Special service officers are in close
protection training’. 69 The new Liberian police force is due to reach its full strength of
3,500 officers in 2006. It is projected that 3,000 officers will have been trained before
planned national elections on 11 October 2005. 70 The UN is to be responsible for police
salaries for two years. The police reform programme has been criticised for incorporating
too many of those who served in previous regimes:
After first promising to recruit and train a new Liberian police force from scratch,
the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) ended up last year by retraining a
68
International Crisis Group Report No. 75, op. cit., p. 19.
69
United Nations Security Council, Report of the Secretary General pursuant to Security Council resolution 1579
(2004) regarding Liberia, S/2005/376, op. cit., p. 7.
70
United Nations Mission in Liberia (Civil Affairs Section), ‘Proxy indicators: Status of restoration of State Authority
and recovery in Liberia’, April 2005. Available at
www.humanitarianinfo.org/liberia/infocentre/general/docs/Restoration%20of%20State%20Authority.doc