The story of UNMIL [Book]: UN Police safeguard elections
Election security preparation was the priority of UN Police (UNPOL) leading up to, and during, both rounds of the 2017presidential and legislative elections. UNPOL focused on strengthening command, control, and communication aspects of the Liberian police country-wide, ensuring effective planning with delegation of command authority to the lowest possible level to empower staff and bring efficiencies and timely responses to a crisis. Authority was decentralized away from Monrovia to allow the regions and counties to manage themselves where possible and support coordination amongst national law enforcement actors, including the military, under the leadership of the Liberia National Police, to ensure a coherent approach to the provision of security for the electoral process. UN Police joined the National Election Security Task Force; regular multi-agency meetings were held; and a single operational plan led to the pooling of resources, such as transportation, to ensure nationwide coverage of security personnel for the elections. After-action reviews were held after both rounds of the election, with lessons learned from the first round put in place for the run-off election. Both elections passed with no substantive security concerns or allegations of human rights abuse by security agency personnel.