UN Police

United Nations Police
Flag Emblem
Map of UN member states.a
Headquarters	International territory Manhattan New York City
Official languages	6 languages Arabic Chinese English French Russian Spanish
Membership	193 member states
Leaders
• Secretary-General	António Guterres
• President of the General Assembly	Peter Thomson
Establishment
• UN Charter signed	26 June 1945
• Charter in force	24 October 1945
Website United Nations Police
Note that this map does not represent the view of its members or the UN concerning the legal status of any country, nor does it accurately reflect which areas' governments have UN representation.

The United Nations Police (UNPOL) is an integral part of the United Nations peace operations. Currently there are over 12,500 UN Police operating in over 90 countries. The goal of the UN Police is to help create a safer environment, as well as protecting civilians from criminal activities. The UN Police works throughout the world through 17 different field missions.

Since the 1960s, the United Nations have been positioning police officers in certain peace operations. These operations were originally limited to monitoring, observing and reporting, but by the early 1990s, advising, mentoring and training of these personnel were adopted into the activities of the peace operations. This UN Police force now acts as a corrective power with domestic police and other law enforcement organisations.

The United Nations Police are a significant part of the United Nations agency and they lead by promoting peace and security. This is evident through the daily patrolling, advising of other domestic police services and their insurance to uphold human rights. They restore the public safety and the rule of law through the United Nations. Their role has expanded rapidly over the last decade. Not only has the United Nations almost tripled the number of police authorised for deployment, but also the United Nations Police now has control over mandating multi-dimensional roles within the system. In the UN missions in Kosovo and East Timor, UN Police were given an executive mandate to safeguard law and order while facilitating the launch of a new domestic police service. The UN Police mission in Kosovo helped to successfully establish the Kosovo Police Service, while in Timor-Leste, districts of the country have been continuously handed over to the National Police, while UN Police return to their more traditional role of advising and supervising operations. In the past 15 years, the number of United Nations Police officers in action has significantly increased from 5,840 to 17,500.

The UN Police are typically deployed with military personnel in most of the “peacekeeping operations” and are also advisers in special UN political missions. Their duties are specific to the type of mission that is given. Also the roles of the policemen differ according to the mandate of the mission they are working. For example, some of their missions include policing inside refugee or internally displaced persons camps, mentoring or training national police officers, providing help in certain types of investigations and helping address transnational crimes. All of these projects sum up the overall aim of the UN Police to reinforce and create conditions for sustainable peace and development.