Welcome to International Advisors
What is a Police Mission? - A police mission is an unforgetable experience where you will work over-seas in a special a project/program sponsored by the United Nations (UNPOL), The European Union (EU), NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) or the US State Department and the US Department of Defense. These programs use International Police Advisors which used to be called Civilian Police (CivPol -an acronym for Civilian Police) officers to carry out "the mission." Every Mission is unique and has its own requirments and goals. Some missions are armed missions and some are unarmed missions.
Most other countries that provide Police Advisors have national police forces and related personnel mechanisms to deploy officers for overseas service. Because the United States does not maintain a national police force, we must seek volunteers on an individual basis. To handle such a large task, the State Department contracts with private companies, currently DynCorp International, Civilian Police International, MPRI, Crucible and PAE. The contractors implement requirements provided by the State Department to recruit, select, equip, and deploy police from all over the United States.
Following pre-deployment training in the United States, officers are sent to the mission area and are "seconded" to the sponsoring organization -- such as the US Department of Defense, US State Department, United Nations or OSCE. In mission, officers are under the operational control of the sponsoring organization, which also either provides officers with an allowance to cover food, lodging, and incidental expenses or provides said services. The contracting companies maintain offices in the mission areas to handle administration and support (e.g. medical) issues, and assist with programs designed to improve quality of life (i.e., bottled water, video libraries, fitness equipment).
Police Missions