YEREVAN.- Politico-Military Officer of the OSCE Office in Yerevan Lilian Salaru spoke about police reform and OSCE programs in Armenia in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am.
Since when does your Office support the police reform in Armenia?
Close cooperation between the OSCE Office in Yerevan and the Armenian Police started in 2003. Important elements of democratic police such as community policing, contemporary methods of police education were tested in the frames of respective pilot projects. These initiatives practically showed that there was a need for reform in the area of police activities and in the area of public readiness to accept new, democratic methods of the police service.
And today, when the police has already embarked the reforms and is in the critical stage of implementation, the OSCE Office in Yerevan wants to reiterate its readiness in enhancing and broadening its support to police reforms focused on establishing trust and co-operation between the police and population through community based policing, police education reform, co-operation of the police with media, local authorities and civil society as well as public order management.
Is it dealt by one programme or different projects are involved? What has been done?
The OSCE closely cooperates with the Police in the modernization of police education. At this stage of our joint activities, the new Police Educational Complex was established, consisting of Police Academy, Police College and Police Training Center; a new testing system for applicants to police educational institutions was developed, independent admission commissions were set up.
Activities aimed at strengthening the links between the police and population are in progress, particularly in terms of deployment community policing throughout Yerevan. This year in March the Office organized a Community Policing Train the Trainers Course. Community policing training is one of the imperatives of the Armenian Police today, considering that starting from June 1, 2012 Community Policing model was deployed throughout Yerevan. With that in view, the Train of Trainers format was selected, since the course participants, due to their roles as operational commanders and trainers, are in the position to cascade the acquired knowledge among their staff and students. Moreover, the OSCE international expert developed Guidelines for Police officers Involved in Community Policing. The Guidelines is an easy-to-use tool for better understanding the complex process of community policing, supported with practical examples. Most importantly, the guidelines follow Armenia’s Charter on Community Policing and take into account the best international practice, while being written in the context of policing in Armenia. We believe that the Guidelines are also useful for citizens and other stakeholders of Armenia.
Another priority area of cooperation between the OSCE Office and the police is the democratic methods of public order management. One of the key results was the development of guidelines for police officers involved in public order management and a series of trainings that were delivered by an international police expert for police officers involved in Public Order Management. The training program incorporates what the OSCE considers as the most important challenges within Public Order Management for the Armenian Police in the immediate future. Obviously, it also takes into account the needs for the policing of the upcoming Presidential Election. The training programme identifies a series of courses set at separate levels across the police service from strategic decision makers to operational staff.
What kind of activities do you plan in the future?
Despite the success of the first steps, there is still much to do to prepare police officers who can provide qualified service to the population. Therefore, the Office will continue to strongly support the Police Educational Complex, enhance anti-corruption mechanisms, mainstream gender issues in the educational process and put the training programmes in line with the best international standards.
We view our assistance in establishing police-public partnership also as a vehicle to combat corruption, mainstream human rights, raise the involvement of women in law enforcement, and involve the population and civil society in monitoring activities. Good relations between the police and the media are also one of the main indicators of the development of democratic policing in Armenia, therefore, the Office will continue to assist police to strengthen the cooperation with media through organizing round table discussions, strengthening capacities of the Police Public Relations Department. We will also continue working with the Public Order Management Department to maximize its efficiency and to ensure that contemporary approaches in operational POM policing are proactively developed and introduced across the Police.
The Office jointly with the Police and local NGO will continue to conduct Police Open Day events which are envisaged to be carried out throughout all Armenian provinces in 2012. The aim of the event is to familiarize juveniles from High Schools with the work of the Police. It is an excellent opportunity for schoolchildren to be acquainted with their province’s police activity and have a better understanding of the police work. Schoolchildren visit the respective Police Department, get familiarized with the special means, police vehicles and other means of protection. Besides, interactive lectures on Police objectives and main areas of activity, Trafficking in Human Beings, Drug abuse and Corruption are delivered and relevant brochures distributed to juveniles. Police Open Days are comprehensively covered on local TV channels and on “02” Police program.
The OSCE Office in Yerevan will continue to implement a 1.7 million Euro project on strengthening electoral processes in Armenia financed by the European Union The general aim of this project is to support democratic elections in Armenia in line with international standards. Through implementation of this project, the Office aims to enhance Police capacities and capabilities in performing election – related functions.
