OSCE Centre holds seminar in Osh to foster community-police partnerships

OSH, Kyrgyzstan, 2 October 2009 - More than 250 people took part in an OSCE-supported seminar today that aimed to inform about the principles of community policing and to foster partnerships between the police, non-governmental organizations and the media. 

Participants, including representatives of media, civil society, educational institutions and civil society, discussed public safety and police-public cooperation. The seminar promoted community policing, which brings police officers closer to the people they serve and builds mutual confidence.

"NGOs and the media have an important role in improving the community-police partnership," said Nazim Kayaalti, community policing adviser at the OSCE Centre in Bishkek's field office in Osh. . "Informative and co-operative seminars will promote mutual trust".

Shakir Zulimov, deputy chief of the Osh province police department, added: "The OSCE is doing a great deal to support community policing in our country and our main goal is to promote partnership and foster a close relationship between citizens and police."

Similar public awareness seminars will be held later in others provinces of the country. The seminars are part an OSCE Centre programme to support police reform.