*EPF410 02/24/00
Fact Sheet on PDD 71: Strengthening Criminal Justice Systems
(In support of peace operations, complex contingencies) (840)

The State Department released this Clinton Administration Fact Sheet on February 24.

(begin Clinton Administration Fact Sheet)

Presidential Decision Directive 71: Strengthening Criminal Justice Systems
In Support of Peace Operations and Other Complex Contingencies

PRESS FACT SHEET

What is this PDD?

The PDD is a comprehensive framework for further interagency and multilateral work designed to improve our capacity to conduct effective civilian police operations and complementary police, justice and penal system development (otherwise referred to as "criminal justice development"). It identifies priority concerns and issues and provides direction to the interagency community for pursuing concrete initiatives.

Why now?

This PDD has been months in the making. The US participated in our first civilian police (CIVPOL) mission in Haiti in 1994. As we began to identify lessons learned from the Haiti and Bosnia missions, we determined that a thorough review was needed. This PDD reflects the results of that review. As demonstrated by growth in these types of activities in recent years and months, and the difficulties we have faced in mounting these types of operations in Kosovo, East Timor and elsewhere, the time is right to begin to address these issues in a more comprehensive and systematic way.

How will the PDD be implemented?

As the government entity responsible for U.S. foreign policy, the State Department has been named the lead agency for coordinating U.S. participation in CIVPOL and complementary international criminal justice development activities. A lead office with responsibility for this function will be created within the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) using the personnel who currently conduct these activities in a less formal capacity. An interagency working group also will be formed to manage these issues. Thus, rather than creating a new bureaucracy, the PDD institutionalizes existing relationships and capacities.

How will the PDD affect recruitment for international civilian police work?
The PDD enables the U.S. to pre-screen and train potential CIVPOL personnel prior to their assignment to a particular mission. They then can remain in their regular jobs until called by the USG for CIVPOL duty. U.S. CIVPOL officers are individuals from all over the U.S. who volunteer to serve in international civilian police missions.

What concrete changes will the PDD produce?

The directives in the PDD will lead to concrete initiatives that will enable us, inter alia, to pre-screen and train our civilian police prior to specific missions so that they can be better prepared for international service and can be deployed more quickly when missions arise; to help other countries to prepare their police for CIVPOL service and to standardize pre-mission training and screening; to develop quick-start training programs for indigenous police that appropriately complement other CIVPOL efforts and enable local communities to assume law enforcement responsibilities at the earliest possible time; to ensure there are suitable means to promote longer-term aspects of criminal justice development once the peacekeeping phase of complex contingencies has ended; and to ensure that justice and penal system development issues are addressed in a comprehensive way in both the planning and implementation stages and that they proceed in tandem with policing efforts so that there is no gap among enforcement, prosecution, and detention.

What will it cost?

The President has requested $10 million dollars in his FY2001 budget for the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs to implement these directives. Costs for operations in specific countries will be determined separately and will vary depending upon the scope of the U.S. presence and engagement.

When will we start to see results?

Given the international demand for criminal justice activities in peace operations and the importance of these activities to stability in post-conflict states, we intend to move forward on all initiatives expeditiously. The President has requested a report on activities in support of the PDD within four months and regular reporting thereafter. We expect that some initiatives can be implemented relatively quickly. Others, such as developing a new system for recruiting and training U.S. CIVPOL, will require major changes to current practices and potentially new legislation, and thus will take longer to implement.

What role will the military play?

The military will continue to play a fundamental role in peacekeeping activities. Intensive efforts have been undertaken to ensure that our military forces can perform peacekeeping functions effectively. This PDD is designed to ensure that civilian police can do the same and that military forces are not drawn in to law enforcement functions because police capacities are not adequate. As we have seen repeatedly in peacekeeping operations, cooperation and coordination between international police and military forces are crucial. The PDD directs that we look at ways to further this cooperation, such as through the possibility of joint exercises between military forces and CIVPOL.

(end Clinton Administration Fact Sheet)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov)
NNNN