restoring law & order and crime prevention - Peace Operations ...

55Tackling law and order problems and crowd control has been normally inthe exclusive domain of the civil Police. However, in the mission areaPolice often encounter violent situations as may be witnessed duringdemonstrations and protests which can turn violent on many occasions.Under such situations though reliance has been generally on theFPUs/SPUs, military can step in to the support of the Police in the absenceof the FPUs/SPUs or when Police encounters violent situations which arebeyond their capability. Presence of military generally produces acontrolling effect on the masses, much more than what is generated by thepresence of the Police as public is normally quite used to the presence ofthe Police, routinely dealing with them in their day-to-day life but has ageneral fear of the military. Patrolling by the military in armored vehiclesproves to be quite deterrent in case of situations involving large scalemobilization of the people as in case of anti-government rallies, calls givenby the political parties/influential pressure groups in support of theirdemands or religious events during which there are apprehensions ofconflicts between opposing groups and possibilities of ethnic violencewhich can have potential bearing on the general law and order situation.11. Police-military coordination in border controlEffective border control in the mission area is an important pre-requisite tocontrol crimes such as arms smuggling, trafficking in human beings,narcotics smuggling and other such illicit trade involving organized gangsof criminal which greatly affects the law and order situation in the missionarea. Sometimes illicit trade networks indulge in smuggling of high-valuecommodities such as timber, minerals, gold, diamonds and other preciousmetals. Such smuggling rings often use their profits to finance and support