The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 7 letter word CIVIL DEFENCE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
C
I
V
I
L
D
E
F
E
N
C
E
Buddy explains!
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.