New Zealand and USAID Strengthen Links on Community Policing

The New Zealand Aid Programme agreed in October to combine the governance and oversight arrangements of its community policing program with USAID's community policing program. The two programs complement each other and the new single steering committee will improve coordination with government and police counterparts.  Secretary of State for Security Francisco Guterres, as co-chair of the new combined committee, welcomed the move and said that the arrangements enable the projects to better support the country's strategic priorities in community policing and the security sector more broadly. Improvements in the skills and professionalism of Timor-Leste's police force are major focus areas with the handover at the end of October of all policing responsibilities from the UN police force, here since widespread civil unrest in 2006.