Police Return to Swat Valley

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REPORTING FROM KABUL

It was announced today that the long awaited community police force in Swat  is being deployed alongside the regular police.  So far 116 community police officers are deployed in Swat’s capital of Mingora with more promised in the near future.  The plan is to eventually have 4,000 community police officers working with the 2200 regular police who are being redeployed to the region following the Army’s action against the Taliban.  The idea in paring the forces up is the community police know the village, town or city better than the regular police force and will be able to identify problems or trends much earlier than a police officer, for instance, from Islamabad.   So far there have been 1600 community police applications submitted which is an impressive number but placed against the population in the Swat region, which is somewhere between 2.5-3 million people, it was hoped more would have stepped forward.  The idea of community police, as this blog has previously described,  brings the concept of policing for the people not the state to reality.  In practical terms it is a confidence building measure to reassure the population that there is constant in the security equation as well as a fair voice in uniform.  The task in front of this new force is daunting at best with tribal allegiances and family loyalty placed before service to the state. Additionally,  the reality that Taliban leaders in the Swat Valley remain at large even after the Army’s intensive three month campaign factor into the effectiveness of this young force. The hope of a peaceful and secure Swat Valley rests on 116 young shoulders today, one can only hope they are broad enough for the task.