Specialized police teams in UN peace operations
To support host-state police with specialized policing expertise United Nations police deploys specialized teams of individual police officers. Depending on the mandate and need of the mission and host-state police, the teams can provide police capacity-building, operational reinforcement to host-State police, conduct deterrent patrols or respond independently to non-military physical threats against civilians through use of force.
Each team consists of experts from one (or a limited number of) Member State(s), with special skills in areas such as investigations, serious and organized crime, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), or community-oriented policing.
For example, in the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), a specialized sexual and gender-based violence police team in the police component developed the capacity of the national police, which included the establishment of 13 specialized sexual and gender-based violence police offices, a sexual and gender-based violence classroom at the Police School and an office for the Haitian National Police National Coordinator on Gender and Women’s Affairs.
In the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), a specialized team strengthens the capacity of the national police and gendarmerie to address and respond to terrorism and transnational organized crime.
Specialized Police Teams on Assignment with United Nations Peace Operations