Robin Campbell
Former Chief Superintendent, Police Service of Northern Ireland
Focus: Accountable Policing
Topics: Integration and Amalgamation, Recruitment, Non-state security actors
Keywords: Sierra Leone, South Africa, Nigeria, recruitment, vetting, community policing, training, integration and amalgamation, internal management, disciplinary systems, incentive systems, oversight agency, non-state policing, donor relations
Interviewer(s): Daniel Scher
Country of Reform: Nigeria, Sierra Leone
Location: Queen's University, Belfast, United Kingdom
Date: Mon Dec 3 2007
Abstract
Robin Campbell relates his experience in working for police reform in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and other countries. He covers topics including recruitment and vetting, as well as the challenges of integrating and amalgamating different security forces with varying histories and organizational cultures into a new civilian police force. He also covers the role of nonstate security actors in developing countries and reflects on the difficulty of forging and managing a productive relationship between these groups and the official police force. He illuminates his experience in the developing world with reflections on the transformation of the Royal Ulster Constabulary into today's Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Full Profile
At the time of this interview, Robin Campbell was a consultant for both public and private-sector organizations undergoing structural change, with a particular emphasis on police services in developing countries. He previously was the deputy change manager and director of corporate development responsible for the implementation of the Patten Commission recommendations for the police in Northern Ireland. The Patten recommendations guided the 10-year process of police reform that saw the Royal Ulster Constabulary transformed into the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Campbell served as the chief superintendent of the police service before launching his own consultancy. He worked in many countries in the developing world.
