December 2004- the High -level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change recommended the creation of “a small crops of senior police officers and managers (50-100 personnel) who could undertake mission assessments and organize the start-up of police components of peace operations” (A/59/565, paragraph 223).
March 2006 - the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations welcomed “the creation of an initial operating capability for the Standing Police Capacity to provide a coherent, effective and responsive start-up capacity for the police component of the United Nations peacekeeping operations and to assist existing operations through the provision of advice and expertise.” (A/60/19, paragraph 99).
June 2006 - the General Assembly approved proposed staffing for Standing Police Capacity (A/RES/60/268) with its base in New York. The Standing Police Capacity’s relocation from United Nations Headquarters to UNLB Brindisi, Italy was endorsed by the Fifth Committee in July 2009 and completed in January 2010.
November 2014 - the United Nations Security Council, adopted Resolution 2185 that “resolves to include as appropriate, policing as an integral part of the mandates of United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions”. The resolution also “welcomes the work of the United Nations Standing Police Capacity in providing expertise across the broad range of policing activities and providing a rapid, coherent, effective and responsible start-up capability for the Police Components of United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions, and assisting existing missions through the provision of advice, expertise, base-line assessments and evaluation”.
June 2015- the OIOS finalized an evaluation report on the SPC, recommending continuous review of SPC specialties in order to keep in line with emerging demands in the field, centralized funding to support SPC core functions, evaluation of the location of the SPC, and setting a target for SPC deployments (OIOS IED-14-012).
The UN Police Division’s Standing Police Capacity (SPC) in the Department of Peace Operations celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2017.
“The Standing Police Capacity is a key component of the Police Division. It boosts the capacity of UN police components during critical phases,” said Stefan Feller, the UN Police Adviser.
Since 2007, its 36 staff - based in Brindisi, Italy - have provided rapidly deployable policing expertise to 44 peacekeeping operations, special political missions, and UN country teams. The SPC has helped set up the police components of five peacekeeping operations, assisted fifteen ongoing operations, and supported five operations during reconfiguration, closure, or transition.
An agreement between the UNGSC, Brindisi and the Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Germany is concluded on 22 February 2019 in Berlin to implement the 2-year German-funded project ‘Targeted United Nations (UN) support through the Standing Police Capacity (SPC) of the UN Police Division (PD) and Justice and Correction Standing Capacity (JCSC) of the UN Justice and Correction Service in the area of rule of law to address critical needs for conflict prevention, peace operations and sustaining peace’.
The total approved allocation for 2019-2020 period is 2 million Euro.
The first Workshop on Information Technology Needs of UN Police organized by Standing Police Capacity and the Office of Communication and Information Technology of the United Nations took place at the UN Information and Communications Technology Facility of Valencia, Spain on 20 and 21 January 2020. Read more about the workshop on iSeek or the on the UNPOL website
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the work of the entire Organization, and the United Nations Police Division’s Standing Police Capacity (SPC) is no exception. However, as the rapidly deployable operational asset of the United Nations Police based in Brindisi, Italy, the SPC has demonstrated its agility by quickly adapting to continue its vital support to UN peace operations and UN Country Teams through the following actions: read more.
Professional development workshops for UN Police organized in MINUSCA and UNMISS
A team of United Nations Police Division staff members from the Standing Police Capacity (SPC) and the Strategic Policy and Development Section developed and conducted two virtual workshops on professional development for UN Police (UNPOL) officers serving in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) from 24 to 28 August 2020 and in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) from 14 to 18 September 2020. read more
The SPC assists in the fulfilment of the strategic mission of the UN Police by providing rapidly deployable, effective, and coherent policing expertise to UN peace operations, post conflict and other crisis situations. Read more...