About UN SAAT And Preparation For SAAT

SAAT means Selection Assessment and Assistant Team that is conducted by UNPOL According to Standard Operational Procedure (SOP):

Sec-34: A SAAT is established to oversee a MS-based AMS. The SAAT is composed of certified AMS instructors. Whenever possible, the members of a SAAT should include both SRS staff and serving United Nations Police Officers. When possible, there should be at least one female instructor on the team. Whenever there is a SRS representative on the team, that person will be the team leader. The terms of reference of the SAAT leader and SAAT members are included in annex B.

Sec-35: The PKOs and SPMs are to cover the travel costs of their AMS instructors participating in a SAAT.

13. A candidate has to be at least twenty-five (25) years of age and should be less than sixty-two (62) years old for service in a PKO or SPM. Generally, it is strongly recommended that a candidate be under fifty-five (55) years of age at the time of deployment.

A candidate must have a good understanding of the core values of the United Nations (integrity, professionalism, respect for diversity, and commitment to the United Nations) and must be a person of integrity. In particular, a candidate must not have been convicted of, and must not be under investigation or being prosecuted for, any criminal, human rights or disciplinary offence, with the exception of minor traffic accidents (driving while intoxicated or dangerous or careless driving are not considered minor traffic violations for this purpose). Both the MS and each of its candidates certify during the AMS that they meet these requirements.

The Assessment Process

The AMS consists of four stages. It starts with the language assessment followed by an interview, continues with the driving assessment, and ends with the firearms handling and shooting assessment (for armed missions). Following the AMS, a briefing is provided to the candidates on the process leading up to possible deployment to a PKO or SPM.

Language Competency Assessment

52. The language competency assessment is conducted in English and/or in French. The MS decides in which language its candidates are to be assessed, in accordance with the PKO or SPM to which the candidates are likely to be deployed. The language competency assessment consists of three parts: the reading exercise; the report writing exercise; and the assessment of oral communication skills that is part of the interview (see paragraph 54).

  

a) Reading exercise: The candidates receive a document describing a United Nations mission related incident. They have 20 minutes to read the document and answer 10 questions related to the incident. A candidate requires a minimum of seven (7) correct answers to pass the reading exercise.

b) Report writing exercise: The candidates listen to an audio recording that provides additional information on the same incident. The candidates may take notes while listening. The notes may be taken in any language. The candidates have 30 minutes to write a comprehensive police report about the incident. The report should include and summarize all relevant facts of the incident. The spelling, grammar and style of the report will also be assessed.

53. All written notes and reports produced by the candidates are collected by the AMS instructors at the end of the second exercise. The AMS instructors use a question and answer matrix to evaluate the reading exercise of the language assessment. The AMS instructors use a standard scoring matrix to evaluate the report writing exercise of the language assessment (see Annex H).

Interview

54. The interview serves three main purposes: i) to assess the candidate’s oral communication skills; ii) to assess the candidate’s professional experience, mission-specific skills, and general understanding of the core values of the United Nations; and iii) to assess the candidate’s basic level of computer proficiency. 

The interview lasts a minimum of twenty (20) minutes per candidate. A MS representative may attend the interviews as a monitor if the MS so desires.

55. During the interview, the AMS instructor(s) ask(s) the candidate a set of general questions related to his or her police career and to skills needed in complex, integrated PKOs or SPMs. The instructor(s) also ask(s) the candidate about his or her understanding of United Nations core values and peacekeeping guiding principles, including gender-related issues.

58. The candidate must identify him- or herself with a valid national driving license in Latin alphabet (with photo, if required in the MS) at the outset of the driving competency assessment. An official translation prepared by the MS authorities must accompany the original license if it is not in the Latin alphabet. 

59. The driving competency assessment consists of two parts: the handling exercise and the road exercise (for details see Annex D):

c) Handling exercise: The candidate must prove his or her ability to safely reverse and park a manual gear four-wheel drive vehicle on a standard driving range within five (5) minutes in accordance with Appendices 1 and 2 to Annex D.  A candidate who fails the handling exercise immediately receives one more chance. A candidate who fails the handling exercise twice is disqualified and shall not be admitted to the road exercise.

d) Road exercise: The candidate is expected to demonstrate his or her ability to drive safely on a predetermined route. The driving will be conducted in low traffic. The AMS instructor will follow Appendices 3 and 4 to Annex D to assess the driving skills of the candidate.

Firearms Handling and Shooting Assessment

62. For service in an armed PKO or SPM, a candidate must pass the handling of firearms and shooting assessment that consists of two parts: a firearm handling exercise and a shooting exercise. The two parts of the assessment should be conducted with the same type of sidearm that the MS provides to its police officers deployed to a PKO or SPM:

a) Handling exercise: the candidate has to demonstrate his or her ability to handle the firearms safely to continue to the shooting exercise. The candidate should safely clean the cylinder of a revolver within one (1) minute. Alternatively, the candidate should safely disassemble and reassemble a pistol within three (3) minutes.

b) The shooting exercise is conducted under the responsibility of the MS’s firearms instructor and supervised by an AMS instructor. The AMS instructor will disqualify any candidate who fails to comply with the safety rules of the shooting range or otherwise fails to handle the weapon safely. The shooting exercise is carried out in two steps:

(1) In step one; the candidate has to shoot a total of five (5) rounds on a target of 45 cm x 45 cm from a five (5) meter distance. The weapon, under supervision of the MS firearms instructor, must be holstered prior to and after each round is fired. There is a five (5) second time limit for each round from the holstered stage to the firing of the round. In order to proceed to step two of the shooting exercise, the candidate has to hit the target in four (4) out of the five (5) rounds. 

(2) In step two, the candidate has to shoot a total of five (5) rounds on a target of 45 cm x 45 cm from a distance of seven (7) meters. The weapon will be in the low-ready position prior to and after each round is fired. There will be a five (5) second time limit for each round to be delivered from the low-ready position to the firing of the round. During the exercise the candidate should bring the weapon to the shooting position on the command of the MS firearms instructor.

63. To pass the shooting exercise, the candidate must hit the target in at least nine (9) rounds out of the total of ten (10) rounds in both steps and demonstrate safe

NOTES: Candidates who fail the language assessment are not admitted to the interview; candidates who fail the interview are not admitted to the driving competency assessment; and candidates who fail the driving assessment are not admitted to the assessment of firearms handling and shooting skills.