United Nations Police (UNPOL)

What United Nations Police (UNPOL) does

United Nations Police (UNPOL) is the global police component of the United Nations peacekeeping system, formally established in 2005 within the Department of Peace Operations (DPO) and tracing its operational roots to the 1948 UNMOGIP mission in Kashmir. UNPOL supports UN Member States in conflict, post-conflict, and crisis situations by deploying police personnel to build host-state police capacity, protect civilians, and maintain public order under UN Security Council mandates. The organization operates across 7 peacekeeping operations (MINURSO, MINUSCA, MONUSCO, UNFICYP, UNISFA, UNMIK, UNMISS) and 5 special political missions (BINUH, UNMHA, UNTMIS, UNVMC, UNOWAS), with headquarters in New York and a Standing Police Capacity base in Brindisi, Italy.

UNPOL's core service portfolio consists of three personnel categories: Individual Police Officers (IPOs) seconded from national police services for up to two years; Formed Police Units (FPUs) — cohesive units of approximately 160 officers deployed for public order management; and Professional Posts — approximately 100 senior positions (P-5 to D-2) fully funded by the UN. Underpinning these is a Strategic Guidance Framework (SGF) for International Policing built on four pillars (Police Administration, Police Capacity-Building and Development, Police Command, and Police Operations), along with a Training Architecture Programme launched in April 2019 that delivers Core Pre-deployment Training Materials (CPTM), Specialized Training Materials (STM 2021), Job-specific Training (JST) courses, and a Police Commanders Course for senior leadership.

UNPOL does not generate commercial revenue. It is funded through assessed contributions from UN Member States as part of the broader UN peacekeeping budget, with officer personnel costs borne by contributing countries and Formed Police Units reimbursed by the UN under negotiated Memoranda of Understanding. Officers are nominated through Permanent Missions by approximately 95 police-contributing countries, and the organization maintains strategic partnerships with UNITAR, OHCHR, UNODC, the African Union, the European Union, INTERPOL, and OSCE for training co-development. As of 31 December 2025, UNPOL had an authorized strength of 7,740 officers with 4,626 deployed and women representing 21.7% of all personnel.

Name

United Nations Police (UNPOL)

Legal name

United Nations Police (UNPOL)

Website

https://police.un.org

Company type

Public

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

United Nations Police (UNPOL) is the UN peacekeeping system’s global police component, deploying Individual Police Officers, Formed Police Units, and senior Professional Posts across 7 peacekeeping operations and 5 special political missions to support host-state police capacity, protect civilians, and maintain public order under Security Council mandates.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

International Peacekeeping Police Services

NAICS

Investigation, Guard, and Armored Car Services (56161), International Affairs (92812)

SIC

Services-Detective, Guard & Armored Car Services (7381), International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

Police Services (Patrol, Response & Community Policing) (BPAIAGAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

UN & Regional Peacekeeping Operations (BPADAFAA), United Nations System & Specialized Agencies (BPADAAAA)

Keywords

• International police peacekeeping
• Police capacity building
• Community-oriented policing
• Pre-deployment training
• Civilian protection operations

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Member State Contributions: UN police officers are seconded by their national governments. Individual Police Officers (about one third of police) continue to receive their national salary while the UN pays a daily Mission Subsistence Allowance. Formed Police Units (about two thirds) are reimbursed by the UN for personnel and equipment during their assignment.
2. Professional Posts Funding: About 100 officers serve on professional posts as temporary UN staff members, fully paid by the UN. These positions include Head of Police components (P-5 to D-2 level), Chief of Staff, and specialized experts.
3. Contingent-Owned Equipment Reimbursement: Member States providing Formed Police Units receive reimbursement for equipment and personnel based on negotiated Memoranda of Understanding under the Contingent Owned Equipment system.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

UNPOL provides police personnel and operational support to UN peacekeeping operations and special political missions worldwide. Its core offerings are Individual Police Officers (IPOs) seconded from national services, Formed Police Units (FPUs) of approximately 160 officers each, and Professional Posts for senior leadership, deployed under Security Council mandates to protect civilians, build host-state police capacity, and support community-oriented policing.

Product overview

United Nations Police (UNPOL) is a peacekeeping and peace operation service that does not operate as a commercial product company. Instead, UNPOL provides a portfolio of personnel services, training programs, and operational frameworks. The core offerings include Individual Police Officers (IPOs) - single officers seconded from national police services; Formed Police Units (FPUs) - cohesive 160-officer units for public order management; and Professional Posts - senior leadership positions at UN Headquarters and field missions. Supporting these are the Standing Police Capacity for rapid deployment, and a comprehensive Training Architecture Programme with specialized materials (UNPOL STM 2021), job-specific courses (COP, MMA, CBD), and the Police Commanders Course for senior leadership. UNPOL also maintains a Senior Police Leadership Roster and Gender Toolkit for mainstreaming gender perspectives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Individual Police Officers (IPOs) Police officers nominated by Member States to serve the United Nations for a period of up to two years. IPOs are seconded or loaned national police officers who receive their national salary plus a daily Mission Subsistence Allowance (MSA).
• Formed Police Units (FPUs) Approximately 160-officer trained and equipped cohesive units deployed as Experts on Mission. FPUs consist of a command staff structure, three to four operational platoons (about 32 officers each) and a support element, typically rotating annually and deployed for public order management and specialized tasks.
• Professional Posts Approximately 100 officers serve as temporary staff members of the United Nations in peacekeeping operations, Special Political Missions, and at the Police Division in New York and Standing Police Capacity in Brindisi, Italy. Professional posts are fully paid by the UN and include senior positions such as Head of Police Components.
• Standing Police Capacity (SPC) A rapid-deployment capability based in Brindisi, Italy that provides immediate police expertise to peacekeeping operations and special political missions. SPC staff can be deployed quickly to establish or reinforce police components in the field.
• Selection Assistance and Assessment Team (SAAT) UN Selection Assistance and Assessment Teams that conduct assessments for IPO candidates. Each SAAT can clear 50 to 800 candidates, with those passing cleared for 24 months for deployment with United Nations Police.
• Specialized Training Materials for UN Police (UNPOL STM) Standardized training package (2021 version) that prepares Individual police officers for duties in UN Peace Operations prior to deployment. Available in English and French.
• Job-specific Training (JST) Courses Three specialized courses covering Community-oriented Policing (COP), Monitoring Mentoring and Advising (MMA), and Police Capacity Building and Development (CBD). Developed with OHCHR, UNITAR, UNODC support and 45 Member States.
• UN Police Training Architecture Programme Comprehensive programme launched in April 2019 to update UN Police Pre-Deployment Training, ensuring compliance with the Strategic Guidance Framework. Includes four projects for online courses, UNPOL portal, STM updates, and expert profile development across 55 expert profiles.
• UN Police Commanders Course Senior leadership course targeting police leaders at P-5 to D-2 level, laying foundation for better trained UN Police Commanders compliant with the Strategic Guidance Framework, covering strategic planning, mentoring, monitoring and evaluation, gender and environmental mainstreaming, human rights integration, strategic communication, community engagement, and international police cooperation.
• Core Peacekeeping Training Material (CPTM) Essential knowledge required by all peacekeeping personnel (military, police, civilians) to function effectively in UN peacekeeping operations. Updated in 2017 with strengthened curriculum including cross-cutting themes on conduct, protection of civilians, human rights, gender, and environmental protection.
• UN Police Gender Toolkit Complete training package adopted in 2015 consisting of an e-learning course, in-person training-of-trainers curriculum, handbook, and compendium of project tools for gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping operations.
• Senior Police Leadership Roster Pool of pre-qualified senior police leaders available for deployment to peacekeeping operations and special political missions.

Quantifiable outcome

• 21.7% women representation achieved as of December 2025, meeting Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy targets in two personnel categories
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• African UnioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2020Supporting the Police Training Architecture Programme with 32 police-contributing countries as of October 2020. African Union provides regional coordination for police contributions to peacekeeping.
• European UnioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2020Supporting organization in the UN Police Training Architecture Programme, contributing to development of standardized training materials and methodologies.
• INTERPOLcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2020Supporting organization in the UN Police Training Architecture Programme, contributing expertise in international police cooperation and information sharing.
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2020Supporting organization in the Police Training Architecture Programme, having drawn on SGF materials for their own planning, development and training efforts.
• United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2019Joint partner in the UN Police Training Architecture Programme launched in April 2019, working to update UN Police Pre-Deployment Training and ensure compliance with Strategic Guidance Framework through curriculum development groups.
• Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2019Cooperative partner in developing Specialized Training Materials and job-specific training courses, including training on human rights integration into policing operations.
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2019Partner in developing job-specific training materials for UN Police, particularly for capacity building and development courses.
• Department of Peace Operations (DPO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent department housing the Police Division and Integrated Training Service, responsible for overall peacekeeping policy and operations.
• Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner department for special political missions where UN Police components are deployed, involved in WPS Policy development.
• International Network of Female Police PeacekeepersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerField-based network of female police officers serving UN Police, conducting awareness raising activities and advocacy for gender-sensitive policing.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Broad incumbents

• INTERPOL: INTERPOL is the world's largest international police organization, providing global police cooperation, criminal intelligence sharing, and operational support across 196 member countries. UNPOL and INTERPOL are the two principal global bodies coordinating international policing, with UNPOL focused on peacekeeping deployment and INTERPOL on cross-border information sharing and joint operations.
• UN Department of Peace Operations (DPO) - Military Component: The Military Component within UN DPO deploys UN uniformed troops in the same peacekeeping missions where UNPOL operates (e.g., MONUSCO, MINUSCA, UNMISS). It is the sister uniformed component of UNPOL, with shared deployment, mandate, and funding structures, making it the most directly comparable internal peer.
• UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC): UNODC supports criminal justice and police capacity building globally, including in fragile states. As a named UNPOL training partner, UNODC's overlapping mandate on rule of law and transnational crime creates both a coordination partner and a partial competitor in police development programming.
• NATO Training Mission (NTM-I / NATO Defense Capacity Building): NATO's defense capacity building programs train and mentor military and security forces in partner countries, partially overlapping with UNPOL's host-state capacity-building mission in non-Article 5 contexts. NATO's regional focus and bilateral agreements make it a competitor for senior security-sector reform engagements.
• UNDP Rule of Law and Security Institutions: UNDP's Rule of Law and Security Institutions team supports national police reform, justice, and security sector reform programming across fragile states. It operates complementary programming to UNPOL in host countries and often co-delivers on longer-term capacity-building efforts.

Emerging players

• DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance: DCAF supports security sector reform and governance globally, including police reform programming and policy advisory. Its work on democratic oversight of police and SSR complements UNPOL's missions and partially overlaps in thematic scope and donor ecosystem.
• Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP): GCSP provides executive-level training and policy advisory services to police, military, and security sector leaders globally. It is an emerging player in international police leadership training, partially overlapping with UNPOL's Police Commanders Course and Job-Specific Training offerings.

Direct peers

• EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) Police Missions: EU CSDP missions such as EULEX Kosovo, EUPOL Afghanistan, and EUBAM Libya deploy police components for rule of law and police capacity building. They replicate UNPOL's monitoring, mentoring, and advising model at the regional level and compete for the same pool of senior police leaders.
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Police Operations: OSCE conducts police capacity building, monitoring, and advising missions across Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, and Central Asia. It is a named UNPOL training partner and offers a comparable international police reform and capacity-building mandate focused on a specific geography.
• African Union Peace Support Operations Division: The African Union's Peace Support Operations Division deploys police and military components in AU-led peace operations (e.g., AMISOM/AUSSOM in Somalia). It is the most direct competitor to UNPOL in the African theater and increasingly assumes mandates historically held by UN peacekeeping police.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/unitednationspolice

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about United Nations Police (UNPOL)