Meeting of Thematic Working Group on Police Education and Training within PCC SEE
The meeting started with a welcome by Mr Anton Travner, Head of PCC SEE Secretariat, who introduced the PCC SEE and its meaning for the SEE region, as well as the prospect for the future of the PCC SEE. It was emphasised how police education and training is a never ending process, and it is vital to constantly update and upgrade the knowledge of police officers.
The meeting continued with acquainting participants with key recommendations adopted by CoM, Strategy Paper Regarding the Conduct of harmonized Training on Convention Related Matters, and the purpose of establishment of Thematic WG on Education and Training. The presentation on the principles of education and training in police organizations, were given, where the different levels of competences and the training needs were explained. The vital importance of this WG was expressed, because it needs to be determined what the experts in the field really need and how to train the students to gain these competences. When objective is clearly set, it is easy to choose the proper training methods, and experience shows that the most suitable approach for teaching police officers is problem based learning.
Following were several presentations and reports by the representatives of the Contracting Parties on the actual state of play in the field of police education and training as well as some specific curricula, with the aim to give the participants an in-depth view of the differences and similarities in their systems of police education and training. The international experts presented their experiences and exposed some difficulties the curricula or the programme itself might face.
On the second day of the meeting, the participants were divided in three sub-working groups:
The 1st sub-working group on Crime worked on the curricula: “Cross Border Surveillance and Controlled Delivery”, “Undercover Investigations to Prevent and Investigate Crimes for Investigators”, “Undercover Investigations to Prevent and Investigate Crimes for Undercover Agents”, “Joint Investigation Teams” and “Hot Pursuit”.
The 2nd sub-working group on International Police Cooperation worked on the curricula: “Technical Measures for Facilitating Trans-border Crime”, “Cooperation in Common Centres”, “Mixed Patrols”, “Witness Protection” and “Liaison Officers”.
The 3rd sub-working group on Exchange of Data and Information worked on the curricula: “Data Protection”, “Procedure for Exchange of Data and Information” and “Joint Threat Analysis”.
All the sub-working groups presented their work which was followed by discussion.
The Thematic Working Group on Police Education and Training within PCC SEE will convene for its next meeting in September or October 2011.