OSCE delivers training workshop on intelligence-led policing in Iceland

The practical implementation of intelligence-led policing (ILP) as a modern and proactive approach to law enforcement was the focus of an OSCE training workshop that took place on 25 and 26 February 2020 in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Some 40 senior law enforcement representatives from Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Serbia attended the event organized by the Strategic Police Matters Unit of the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department.

Participants discussed ILP implementation at the national as well as community levels, criminal intelligence databases and IT systems supporting ILP, and the use of ILP in tasking, co-ordination and decision-making processes. The model recommended in the OSCE Guidebook on Intelligence-Led Policing was also presented. Expert guest speakers came from the law enforcement agencies of Estonia, the Netherlands, Serbia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

“Crime has become more complex than before and so has criminal investigation. We believe that introducing ILP in Iceland would enhance the quality as well as effectiveness and efficiency of our law enforcement operations,” said Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Iceland’s Justice Minister, at the start of the workshop.

Guy Vinet, Acting Co-ordinator of OSCE Activities to Address Transnational Threats, added: “Law enforcement agencies across the entire world face at least one common challenge when combating a crime: limited time and resources. Sound planning and decision-making is essential for the police to successfully fulfill its mission and ILP provides tools for achieving this goal.”

The event was a part of a series of training workshops organized by the Strategic Police Matters Unit under its ILP project that aims to raise awareness about the benefits of proactive policing and to promote a common and coherent approach to ILP implementation in the OSCE area.