The contractual status of individual police officers is as “expert on mission”. They receive their salary from the Member State that second them as well as a daily Mission Subsistence Allowance (MSA) from the United Nations.
The average recruitment time for an Individual Police Officer is three months from the submission of the documents by the Permanent Mission to the United Nations Police Division. Typical profiles for Individual Police Officers are listed here:
Process
The recruitment process for IPOs starts with the submission of a Note Verbale to the Permanent Mission of Member States in New York. If Member States are interested, they notify the national policing authority, which selects or forwards the announcement to officers that are deemed qualified.
Once the Police Division receives an application, it registers the candidate and initiates the screening process. Eligible candidates will be interviewed. The steps are listed below in detail.
Generation
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Invitation for Nomination: The Selection and Recruitment Section (SRS) of the Police Division sends Notes Verbales to concerned Member States inviting nominations of police officer(s) that fit(s) the profile of the Job Description attached to the Note Verbale. The Note Verbale is initially faxed and the original follows via mail.
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Nomination of candidates: Permanent Missions of Member States of the UN submit, duly completed (typed) and signed Electronic Application for Seconded Police Form (EASP), including a copy of the passport (or ID card), for each nominated candidate to the Police Division (see II.4.F and II.4.G).
Candidates are responsible that the information is accurate.
Each nomination should also include a certification (preferably in cover letter/note) that the candidates have not been convicted of and is not currently under investigation or being prosecuted for any criminal, human rights or disciplinary offence, with the exception of minor traffic violations (driving while intoxicated or dangerous or careless driving are not considered minor traffic violations for this purpose).
Selection for service with the United Nations is made on a competitive basis. It is therefore essential that all the EASP forms be completed with a view to presenting the candidates’ qualifications and experiences as they relate to the requirements as set out in the relevant Job Description. To ensure adequate evaluation, the following data is mandatory for inclusion: date of joining active police service, rank, graduation from police training institution, post titles, detailed duties description of each held post starting from the initial assignment after graduation from the police training institution, availability of additional qualifications, previous international (UN, African Union, European Union, etc.) experience and contact details (telephone and e-mail address). In the event a Permanent Mission (PM) wishes to recommend a candidate for several posts, a separate EASP should be submitted for each post.
It is strongly recommended that Member States carefully pre-screen their applicants and nominates only candidates that meet all the requirements for the advertised position.
Permanent Missions are requested to present their candidates in one single submission, in accordance with the deadline of the Job Description, under cover of a Note Verbale listing the names of the candidates and referring to the corresponding vacancy announcements. The list of candidates should contain the following personal data of the candidates: rank, first name, last name (exactly as was presented during the SAAT visit or AMS ), gender, date of birth, date when joined active police service, dates of valid AMS or SAAT visit clearance (if any), passport number/national ID/police ID number and type of police service the officer is working for in his or her home country (see II.4.E).
Applications must be hand-delivered by Permanent Missions to the Selections and Recruitment Section of the Police Division, Office of Rule and Law and Security Institutions, Department of Peace Operations in accordance with the specific directions in the relevant Note Verbale. The Permanent Mission should also confirm that selected candidates will be released, in a timely manner, from their national obligations for service with the UN (see II.4.H).
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Consolidation of Nominations: The Selection and Recruitment Section will compile a list of the candidates offered by Member States and prepare a deployment plan based on the operational requirements of the mission to which the candidates are nominated. The criteria for the decision for the deployment will be the results from an AMS/SAAT (if available) based upon the following requirements: Possession of mission oriented skills, proven professional expertise and qualification and language capability; Geographical or regional presentation Gender representation.
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Pre-selection (CV Analysis and Interview): Upon the approval of the Police Adviser, the Selection and Recruitment Section analyse the ESAP of the nominated candidates to make sure they fulfil the requirements (experience, skills, education, language and age). Then it prepares a short list of qualified candidates based on this analysis and additional information from interviews conducted during a Selection Assistance and Assessment Team (SAAT) visit. The candidates that have not been interviewed during a SAAT visit will undergo telephone interview by the SRS with possible participation of the relevant UN mission’s Police component representative(s). The interviews are conducted to validate the information in the CVs. Some of the candidates that have been interviewed during a SAAT might also be re-interviewed if more information is needed.
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Mission Deployment: After the selection of suitable candidates, the Selection and Recruitment Section informs the Permanent Missions which nominees have been selected for deployment advising on the proposed date of deployment and requests that pre-departure preparations are initiated, such as: pre-deployment training, medical clearance and immunizations, acquisition of passports and required visas, issuance of necessary logistical supplies and pre-deployment seminars. The Selection and Recruitment Section will initiate the deployment formalities immediately after checking disciplinary records and medical clearance.
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Arrival in Mission: The Mission’s UN Police leadership shall ensure that selected UN police officers are deployed based on the job description that they have been recruited against.
Tour of Duty (TOD) Extension
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Request for Extension: The Peacekeeping Operation or Special Political Mission sends a request for Tour of Duty (TOD) extension to the SRS at least six months before the appointment of the concerned officer expires. For the request to be granted the officer’s last performance appraisal must be at least “fully satisfactory/fully competent”.
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Length of TOD: The service of a police officer (on MSA) serving as expert on mission should not normally exceed two years. Any extension beyond two years shall only be granted on an exceptional basis. The TOD should not exceed three consecutive years.
Rotation
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Replacement of the UN Police Officers in the missions: It is the obligation of the authorities of the PCC to keep track of the rotation schedule of their police personnel serving in the UN missions. Hence at least three (3) months before the projected end of TOD of their police officers, in the mission, the concerned Permanent Missions are expected to provide a list and P.11/PHP/ESAP of Police Officers nominated as replacements for the above police officers.
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Their further selection and deployment are carried in accordance with the provisions of the above paragraphs. If a Member State fails to nominate timely replacements with the required skills, those slots may be offered to other Member States to avoid staffing gaps of the UN Police component.