OSCE Mission to Skopje supports community policing course for prevention officers

SKOPJE, 9 December 2009 - The OSCE Mission to Skopje marked Community Policing Day with a graduation ceremony today for 150 police officers and inspectors who completed an OSCE-supported training course on community policing.

Through a four-month project initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and supported by the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje, the newly-assigned police officers learned how to better put community policing principles in action. The course focused on topics including confidence building, conflict resolution and mediation and policing in multi-ethnic environments.

"Building confidence between police and citizens is at the core of modern police services to prevent and resolve crimes," said Ambassador Jose Luis Herrero, the Head of OSCE Mission to Skopje.

Minister of Internal Affairs Gordana Jankullovska added: "I believe that the topics discussed in the training course will contribute to the work of police officers who are in direct contact with the citizens and their concerns."