Ulrich Schiefelbein
National Police Administration Advisory Team Leader, United Nations Mission in Liberia
Accountable Policing
Community Policing, Training
information sources, community policing, corruption, vetting, promotion systems, internal management, integration and amalgamation, recruitment, training curriculum, pre-deployment training, local police training
Arthur Boutellis
Liberia
Pan African Plaza,
Monrovia,
Liberia
Tue May 13 2008
Abstract
Ulrich Schiefelbein, the Liberian national police administration advisory team leader, talks about the objective of the United Nations Mission in Liberia, which was mainly to keep peace and to reconstruct the national police force. He identifies the challenges the Liberian police faced, including lack of proper documentation, logistical problems, limited infrastructure, lack of policing skills, financial difficulties that hindered the proper payment of the officers, corruption due to inadequate supervision and lack of public confidence in the local police. Schiefelbein explains how the U.N. police began to train the Liberian police, conduct a police census while working with the local officers, install a personnel data filing system to help curb payroll problems and create shared computer resources to ensure continuity of work between officers working different shifts. He also recommends community policing and setting a priority in the installation of communication channels as part of the process of professionalizing the Liberian police force.
Full Profile
At the time of this interview, Ulrich Schiefelbein was working with the United Nations Police in the mission in Liberia as the national police administration advisory team leader. He began his police career in Germany. He served as a patrol officer, deputy chief of the Drug Investigation Unit and as the chief of the Administration Unit. In 1997 and 1998, Schiefelbein participated in two U.N. missions in Bosnia.
