Uncodified: The Development of Military Component Police Assistance from Operation Uphold Democracy
Abstract
The US military has attempted to provide police assistance in nearly every conflict following the Vietnam War. After 1975, the US Army tried to build police capability in Panama, Haiti, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries, without an established doctrine for police assistance. During the intervention in Haiti, Operation Uphold Democracy, the military planned and implemented numerous policing innovations. After the operation, the US Army did not record the experience of creating an international armed police force, developing emergency police training, co-opting police facilities, or other innovations in doctrine. The armed forces did not build police assistance capability because of the organizational structure employed. Separately, military police, special forces, infantry units, and their headquarters addressed the police problem. Thomas Kuhn, a Harvard University professor who taught the development of science, created an applicable model of scientific progress. Kuhn posited that without a community of scientists there could be no paradigm or model to explain phenomena. Kuhn's model is uniquely suitable for understanding the lack of police assistance knowledge development after the military attempted to support the establishment of two police forces and provide civil security in Haiti.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 24, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1071185
Entities
People
- Daniel P. Meany
Organizations
- School of Advanced Military Studies