The Role of Police during the Pandemic and Public Health Emergencies: Global Best Practices

Policing the Pandemic Worldwide: Best Practices for Law Enforcement Agencies 

Center for Global Policy, July 16, 2020 by Hassan Abbas

The unprecedented global challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is testing the resources and capabilities of government services. Law enforcement personnel, who are at the forefront in the fight against the disease and are among those at a high risk of becoming infected, have been particularly affected. The changes triggered by these challenges show that police institutions require major reforms to serve their communities better, including adopting new training curricula, establishing links between police and health institutions, investing more in community policing, fighting cybercrime, and increasing transparency in decision-making processes.

Examples of global pandemic-era crime trends from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, South Asia, and Singapore can provide lessons for practitioners and policymakers on how to prepare and invest in police institutions for better security and handling future threats. With shutdowns, travel restrictions and work-from-home limitations, reported crimes (such as theft and burglary) have declined considerably, but there has been a spike in domestic violence and cybercrime. The brutal killing of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis added another layer of complexity to the situation as it galvanized anti-racism and anti-police protests across the United States and in several other countries. The full scope of the impact of the pandemic on crime and security is still unclear. Criminals have clearly adopted new ways to exploit the situation, and police have to be a step ahead of them to be effective. Police professionalism and resilience is going through a severe trial in the process.

A New Kind of Policing Challenge

COVID-19 compelled police forces across the world to alter their operational strategies and adjust their resources. In France, over 100,000 police and gendarmes patrolled streets to enforce lockdown and fine residents who left shelter without legal reason. Police stopped over 70,000 people and fined around 4,000 the first day of the lockdown. In Italy, police checked 700,000 citizens in just one week in March, over 40,000 of whom were in violation of regulations.

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ALSO SEE:

Police Planning During COVID - 19 Pandemic - UN 

Law Enforcement Best Practices Can Help Halt the Spread of COVID-19 by Keeping People Out of Jail - Vera Institute for Justice 

Policing During the Coronavirus Pandemic - Center for American Progress

Domestic abuse: get help during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak - UK

The Role of Police Foundations During the Pandemic - International Association of Chiefs of Police 

Global Policing Symposium: Challenges and Lessons Learnt - International Association of Chiefs of Police 

Policing the Pandemic of 1918 - National Law Enforcement Museum 

Have Taliban Changed Ideologically? - An Interview with Afghan leader Omar Zakhilwal

Peace, Taliban and Cricket in Afghanistan: A Conversation with Afghan Leader and Diplomat Dr. Omar Zakhilwal

Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, July 2020

The third installment of the NESA South Asia Interview Series is with Dr. Omar Zakhilwal hailing from Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province served as finance minister (2009-2014) under President Hamid Karzai and later was appointed as Kabul’s ambassador to Pakistan (2015-2018). He holds a PhD in economics from Carleton University in Canada and has also consulted for various international organizations including the World Bank and UNDP. He also served as Chairman of the Afghanistan Cricket Board. He tweets @DrOmarZakhilwal

HASSAN ABBAS: It may come as a surprise, but my first question is about Cricket! You served before as head of the Afghanistan Cricket Board and your team has greatly impressed cricket lovers across the world. Please tell us how Afghanistan has pulled off this remarkable feat in the midst of all the challenges that it faces. To me it is a story of Afghan resilience and hope that is often missed in media coverage.

OMAR ZAKHILWAL: Cricket, yes indeed! In fact, I was the founder of the Afghanistan Cricket Board and also accepted to be its first Chair. To be honest, before my involvement in Cricket I was not much into this game and rarely watched it. One day in the Spring of 2009 when I was the Minister of Finance, players of our national team came for a meeting explaining their impoverished backgrounds, the difficulties in which they had learned and practiced Cricket, the vision and the sense of purpose they saw in cricket for themselves (proving to the World that, if given the right circumstances, Afghans could excel in almost anything and this in return could bring much needed smiles, hope and inspiration to the Afghan people). However, they didn’t have the minimum of the very basics of what they needed. That motivated me tremendously and I decided to be part of their journey. To make a provision for them in the national budget I founded the Cricket Board and then as per the players’ insistence I accepted to be the first voluntary Chair of the Board as well. I am proud of what we achieved in the first three years in terms of structure and infrastructure that set the stage for Afghan Cricket team’s subsequent rise and the rest is history.

HASSAN ABBAS: Moving now to the security dynamics in Afghanistan, do you believe that the Taliban have changed or transformed politically and ideologically over the years? Can they be part of a democratic Afghanistan as a political stake holder?

OMAR ZAKHILWAL: Ideological change is a big expectation. However, for peace, we don’t need to look for that change but rather for a change in their understanding of the internal and external environment as well as their end objectives. Based on my knowledge of the Taliban, I believe they have the following understanding: Afghanistan and its people have come a long way in the past two decades. While they overwhelmingly want peace with a complete withdrawal of foreign forces and a state that is Sharia compliant, they also won’t accept peace at the cost of their basic rights – educational, political, social and others. They also know that even after the complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan, the international community may not remain as indifferent as in the 1990s. Therefore, I believe they know that monopolization of power, and ruling by force is a thing of the past and they will have to compromise not only on the nature of the state but also on power structure.

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Inside India Today: Politics, Security and Rivalry with China

Inside India Today: Politics, Security and the Rivalry with China – An Interview with Professor Christophe Jaffrelot
NESA South Asia Interview Series # 2 (June 27 2020)

This is the second engagement of NESA’s South Asia Interview series. NESA Distinguished Professor Hassan Abbas interviews Christophe Jaffrelot who is Avantha Chair and Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King’s India Institute and also the Research Lead for the Global Institutes, King’s College London.

Professor Christophe Jaffrelot 

Hassan Abbas: Welcome Professor Jaffrelot. I am borrowing language for my first question from the subtitle of your recent book on India: Tell me “How Hindu nationalism is changing India.”

Christophe Jeffrelot: To summarize a book in few sentences is not easy, but I can list the subjects scrutinized by the contributors under two large rubrics: national-populism and ethnic democracy. While BJP could never win a majority in the Lok Sabha before Narendra Modi took over power in the party, Modi has brought something new to it: a national-populist repertoire that combines the Hindutva ideology of the Sangh Parivar and a new style as Modi relates directly to the people in a very effective manner (he’s a good orator in particular), claiming that he comes from the people because of his plebeian origins. This populist style finds expression in a constant use of emotions (including the fear of the Other) and a systematic rejection of the establishment (associated with the Congress and its leaders in his discourse). But populism is also conducive to authoritarianism: as the leader claims that he epitomizes the people, he concentrates power at the expense of his ministers, his party, the parliament, federalism… and there is very little space left for the opposition, as all the other political forces are seen as illegitimate and depicted as anti-national. Hence the objective of a “Congress free India”. In some states, even when Congress won the elections, they lost power after sometime when some of his elected representatives defected for various, opaque reasons to the BJP, the new hegemon.

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The Making of the Doha Deal with Taliban and the Future Prospects

Afghanistan Between Negotiations: How the Doha Agreement Will Affect Intra-Afghan Peace
By Andrew Quilty Sunday, July 5, 2020, LAWFARE Blog

Excerpts

Trump entered office promising to end the war in Afghanistan, but former military generals serving on his national security team convinced him to change course. In his August 2017 South Asia Strategy, he vowed to throw the full weight of U.S. military, economic and diplomatic power into bringing an end to the war. The rate of U.S. airstrikes spiked immediately, and in both 2018 and 2019, the U.S. Air Force conducted more airstrikes than in any other year since 2001. The Taliban suffered severe personnel losses countrywide.

The pressure may have prompted a February 2018 open letter from the Taliban calling on the United States to reassess its policies toward Afghanistan. Although by no means a surrender, the letter offered renewed hope for diplomacy.

For complete article, click here

Also See:

Despite Bloody Week In Afghanistan, U.S. Pushes Taliban Peace Talks Forward - NPR

Afghan Negotiators to Taliban: Let’s Start the Peace Talks - USIP

Afghanistan: Background and U.S. Policy:In Brief - Congressional Research Service
How the US and Afghanistan can jump-start talks with the Taliban - Aljazeera

A Failed Afghan Peace Deal - Seth Jones, Council on Foreign Relations

Governance, Counter-terrorism and Policing in Pakistan

GOVERNANCE, COUNTER TERRORISM AND POLICING IN PAKISTAN – A CONVERSATION WITH AZHAR NADEEM, INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE (RETIRED)

Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University, Washington DC - June 2020

Welcome to the first installment of NESA’s South Asia Interview series with NESA Distinguished Professor Hassan Abbas. We will interview practitioners, politicians, diplomats and scholars from South Asia. These engagements will include NESA alumni from the region as well as US South Asia experts.

Hassan Abbas: What are the three biggest governance challenges faced by Pakistan today?

Azhar Nadeem: The authoritarian mindset in conjunction with the patronage system which has led to the emergence of extractive institutions in Pakistan is the root of all problems. The second plague Pakistan suffers from is the larger than life presence of the garrison and theocracy in the corridors of power and influence.

A direct consequence of these ills is the chaos in the education, health and justice systems. In education, there is a disconnect between the curriculum for the elite and the common man. Healthcare is fraught by problems leading to complete depravation of essential services in rural areas. The justice system is in shambles, where the influential and the rich can go scot free.

Hassan Abbas: The civil-military tensions have remained a permanent feature of Pakistan’s political landscape. It appears that it is somewhat resolved for the time being with the rise of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Do you believe a permanent solution to civil-military rivalry for political power has been achieved?

Azhar Nadeem: The civil-military power struggle has been the main problem of this country since its inception. Those who are under oath to protect and preserve the constitution have been responsible for frequent constitutional abrasions for the last 5 decades. Having PM Imran Khan at the helm of affairs does not offer a permanent solution to the problem, rather it exacerbates the situation where the military appears to be calling the shots in all important affairs.

From a constitutional perspective, the military should have no role in king making. The permanent solution calls for a national debate to ensure that all state institutions, including the military, stay within their constitutional parameters. However, the civilian leadership should give serious consideration to the proposals of the armed forces in defense matters.

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Roundtable on Advocacy for Police Reforms - National Initiative against Organized Crime Pakistan

Need for a Global Police Reforms Agenda: A Center for Global Policy Event - July 25, 2020