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Constabulary
Wanted: Police officers to wear a lighter blue
By Douglas Waller/Washington
January 17, 2000
Web posted at: 11:38 a.m. EST (1638 GMT)
The Clinton Administration doesn't want the U.S. to become the
world's policeman. But it wouldn't mind having world cops.
Floating around the White House is a proposal by Secretary of
State MADELEINE ALBRIGHT that would have the U.N. set up a
standby force of several thousand policemen, who would rush into
war-torn areas to keep law and order. Cops are scarce in
countries recovering from civil war, but military units deployed
as peacekeepers balk at doing police work. So the U.N. has to
start from scratch each time, enlisting nations to contribute
policemen. "Getting enough of them is always a problem," says a
senior State Department official. For example, it has been seven
months since the Kosovo war ended, but the U.N. has only about
2,000 of the 4,700 policemen it needs there. The fighting in
East Timor ended four months ago, but only 330 of the 1,640 cops
requested by the U.N. have shown up. Albright wants nations to
promise police officers ahead of time. They would then be on
call to hit the beat immediately.
--By Douglas
Waller/Washington
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