The Panellists
- S/Sgt. Roch Côté, NCO i/c, INTERPOL Operations, RCMP
- Sgt. Det. Janice Laws, Criminal Investigations, Montreal Police Service
- Supt. J.M. (Joe) McAllister, director, Critical Incident Program, RCMP
S/Sgt. Roch Côté
It's not uncommon for people going on vacation abroad to research the country they're visiting. After all, as guests, they want to be respectful of others' cultures and mindful of their customs and courtesies. It's no different for police officers and personnel serving abroad.
In my opinion, culture plays an important role in people's lives. And we need to understand what a culture requires and what emotions are attached to it. Different countries follow different cultures and because of this, some things will be acceptable in some countries whereas the same things will appear to be rude in others. Learning and trying to understand the customs and culture of a foreign country indicates respect for the other country and for any business relationship to be successful, respect for each other is essential.
When you move into someone else's backyard, it's important that you learn all you can about them in order to win over their trust and respect. Knowing the culture and the mentality of the people who live in a specific country is crucial to understanding how to draw strategies that receive the support of the local population. It's also important to know its political system, its decision-making cultures, its codes, and its written and non-written rules.
I've worked as a liaison officer for four years in Pakistan, covering Afghanistan and Iran as well. I came to know very quickly that people from these countries have a strong relationship-focused culture. The relationship is what's important. Relationship-focused people prefer to do business with friends, families and people well known to them. For Pakistani officials or Afghan officials, business is personal. In a relationship-focused culture, it's useful to understand the patterns for building relationships and to take the time to establish trust and friendship.
Understanding this is essential to policing success in the Middle East. To get things done for the long term, police officers in any capacity must spend time gaining credibility and building relationships. A liaison officer, for example, can't expect to go in, say these things need to happen tomorrow, and then be surprised when all does not go well. Focusing on relationships means taking the time to have tea, talk about the weather, discuss families and the latest cricket match. When dealing with people from the Middle East, one must go slowly to achieve lasting success.
We should always handle overseas dealings with cultural sensitivity to avoid offence to foreign partners. Being culturally aware will also avoid the expense of miscommunication. All in all, becoming culturally aware will allow us to handle international relations with respect and understanding. Ultimately, this will contribute toward gaining our foreign partners' co-operation for achieving our objectives.
Sgt. Det. Janice Laws
Cultural awareness is essential to success and positive outcomes in policing abroad.
What may influence a culture are a myriad of things that may not be apparent to an outsider. Human nature wants us to belong in a society. Our culture often dictates our behaviours and attitudes. The need for self-esteem and self-actualization may have us promoting and preferring our culture of origin.
While policing abroad, we must be open to the positive aspects of another culture without feeling threatened.
Finding ourselves in a work environment that's in another culture confronts us psychologically. Our minds struggle to adapt to a new environment, sights and sounds. Here we must look for the similarities and commonalities of our shared humanity to help us stay positive and open minded.
We all laugh, cry, eat, sleep, and have families we care about. This basic human connection allows me to empathize and be less likely to judge negatively.
Inversely, I need to understand others' impressions of me. My culture, habits, dress, role and behaviours may seem odd to them. Achieving success in international policing depends on communication for the transfer of skills and mentoring. Our efforts are futile if we don't gain the respect of the officers. We need credibility to be heard and understood, and for them to adopt the new ways of policing we are proposing.
The importance of cultural awareness is an organizational philosophy practised in all United Nations missions around the world. Respect for diversity is a core value that allows all individuals working together to have a baseline that helps us come together in the service of the cause.
When assigned to an international policing mission, we need to study all we can about the host countries. We need to look at our own views, values, perceptions, prejudices, stereotypes and misconceptions and have an honest understanding of who we are and what we believe. If we come across as critical or judgmental, we'll be counterproductive to the mission. We must never underestimate how others perceive us. We are highly visible and our actions are constantly scrutinized.
In many cultures, relationships are more important than roles. If the relationships aren't established with respect and mutual understanding, the roles may not be considered.
In choosing to treat others as my brothers and sisters — my extended family of humanity — I approach everyone with love and respect, and try to be generous with my time, show interest, listen and ask questions. It may be a while before the time is right to start imparting my knowledge and experience.
Letting them see my humanity is key. The influence of people from another culture in a society changes that culture, potentially creating a new culture. Winning hearts and minds can't be achieved without considering culture.
Supt. Joe McAllister
The role of cultural awareness can't be understated in policing abroad. After five missions, one of the most important things I've learned is to understand where you are, who you're working with and how they got to their current state of affairs.
While preparing for a mission, police officers need to understand that they're no longer working in an environment where community policing is understood and for the most part accepted. We police in failed states where, historically, policing has sometimes been part of the problem. In many of these countries, the police were the strong arm of the government, which may have been seen as oppressive, unfair, violent and unresponsive to community, minority and gender needs.
On my first deployment to Kosovo in 2001, I mistakenly believed that many of the societal issues were related to the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. But after riding around with local Kosovarian police officers and hearing their stories, I soon learned some of the issues between Serbs and Albanians went back beyond the First World War.
Understanding the root cause of historical complaints and cultural differences is critical when we're trying to get different cultures to not only work together, but protect members of the community whom they may have a deep-rooted hatred for.
Once officers get a full understanding of all these cultural issues, they can then start having conversations with the local police and population without seemingly taking sides thus ensuring a fair, objective and equitable process is used in decision making and policing those communities.
The other key piece is to understand the cultural differences among your policing co-workers. The United Nations, European Union or Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe are made up of many countries, each with their own cultural and historical nuances. Working with police officers from countries that are different than your own brings new insights to dealing with many challenges officers face in missions.
On my second tour in Afghanistan, I organized a presentation to the Deputy Minister of Interior for Strategic Policy and several ambassadors about policing structures. I was co-chairing a group on ministerial reform and was asked to bring a number of policing examples to the Afghans for consideration. I brought together presentations from Germany, Britain, The Netherlands, Canada, Jordan, Finland, Turkey and the United States. One of the compelling pieces I remember of this presentation was how the Afghans viewed the discipline process.
While most police agencies have rules, codes of conduct, policies and internal courts, the Afghans relied on local mullahs and imams to ensure their police treated people according to teachings of the Koran. Very similar to how the Jordanians ran their police stations, instead of having a Sergeant Major to deal with conduct and deportment, the local mullah would come to speak to the officers, and locals would complain to the mullah about misconduct. This worked in many areas far better than any set of rules would. It was a learning experience for many senior officers around the table who had been pushing for more civilian oversight of the police.
Both my Jordanian and Turkish counterparts provided me with great insight into the cultural nuances we were facing in Afghanistan and Turkey. They had not only great insight into Afghan culture, but also knew what would and wouldn't work in the region. I learned more about the Muslim culture and policing from these colleagues than any book could have taught me as they showed me the practical applications of the theories we tried to bring to the table.