At a Glance

Mission

The Policing Support Team seeks to contribute to Jordan's stability and security by building the capacity of the civil security agencies to prevent and respond to security incidents.

Overview

Three thematic workstreams underpin our mission:

• Critical Incident Response: supporting the implementation of an effective leadership capacity, with clearly defined command protocols and appropriate tactical options for responding to critical or potentially critical incidents.

• Community Policing: Supporting the police’s proactive engagement with community stakeholders to identify problems that impact the safety, security and wellbeing of the public, and implementing solutions that enhance community safety.

• Investigative Counter-Terrorism Policing: supporting the proactive and reactive investigatory capabilities of Jordan's security agencies. This includes supporting the introduction of processes to enhance the effective collection, analysis and dissemination of information to inform operational and organisational decision making.

The Policing Support Team aims to bolster Jordan’s stability in the face of regional challenges.

Our three workstreams support each other to help address the challenges to stability that arise from uneven social cohesion across the country and the threat of violent extremism.

Social Cohesion

Our interventions seek to address challenges to social cohesion. Low social cohesion can disrupt stability if left unchecked as tensions within and between communities may lead to unrest and disorder, while marginalised individuals risk being targeted for recruitment by extremist groups. The large numbers of Syrian refugees in Jordan has placed new pressure on municipal services and the labour market. In some areas, this has caused tension in local communities over issues such as increased water shortages, waste accumulation, costs of living, and competition over jobs.

Violent Extremism

Jordan faces an ongoing terrorist threat, including from returning foreign fighters.

Since late 2015 there have been a number of security incidents in Jordan. These have included an attack in August 2018 on a Gendarmerie vehicle providing security for a concert in Fuheis, 20 kilometres northwest of Amman, and the exchange of heavy fire in Salt between security forces and confirmed suspects involved in the Fuheis attack. In June 2016, 5 security agents were killed in a shooting attack on a GID office in Baqaa; in December 2016, 14 people were killed and 37 injured after terrorists attacked the town of Karak in the south of Jordan.

Three interlocking workstreams respond to the threats outlined previously. Each workstream will support Jordan’s policing agencies in their efforts to:

• Provide a proactive, engaged and accessible community policing service in vulnerable communities

• Collect and analyse information effectively in order to better understand and mitigate the threat of crime, disorder and violent extremism

• Prepare effective response and management strategies to critical security incidents

The project aims to build upon the skills of the Jordanian police across departments and agencies in these areas. Promoting communication and collaboration between Jordan’s civil security agencies is a golden thread running through each workstream.