Ex-LAPD Deputy Chief Heads U.N. Police Force

Former Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Mark Kroeker pledged to rapidly build a new crime-fighting force in Liberia as head of a U.N. police unit.

The retraining of Liberian police is among the tasks under an August peace deal meant to end nearly 14 years of violence in the West African country. Security agents in the past have preyed on the Liberians they were supposed to protect.

So far the unit has 10 police officers from the United States. But Kroeker hopes to have 100 officers from various countries by the end of the year; at full strength, the force will have 1,100.