OSCE Office helps bring police and citizens closer in Azerbaijan
MINGECHEVIR, Azerbaijan, 30 June 2007 - Hundreds of people attended today's Police Open Day, organized by the OSCE Office in Baku and the Ministry of the Interior, with the aim of raising awareness of police activities and developing a closer relationship between the police and society.
The Open Day at the Mingechevir City stadium is one of the outreach activities of the OSCE Community Policing Project, which targets young people and children as well as their parents. The event gives citizens the opportunity to understand the work of the police and to see how the police are moving towards closer co-operation and partnership with the people they serve.
"We commend and fully support the efforts of Azerbaijan's Government to introduce principles of modern community policing," said Ambassador Jose-Luis Herrero, the Head of the OSCE Office in Baku.
"Our common goal is to turn the police from a force that controls people to a service that provides citizens with a degree of security and safety that they can sense and appreciate. We are looking forward to further expansion of the Community Policing Project to other regions of Azerbaijan," he added.
Orudj Zalov, Azerbaijan's Deputy Interior Minister, said: "The OSCE Police Assistance programme and the Community Policing Project, which forms an integral part of it, are important for us. This type of event helps strengthen good relations and mutual respect between the police and citizens of any municipality."
Children and their parents had a chance to see demonstrations by dog handlers, rapid reaction teams and other special police forces. They took part in different entertainment activities, including a lottery game and an open-air concert by local musicians and pop singers.
The Police Assistance Programme of the Office is designed in partnership with the Azerbaijani authorities to develop the police as a modern, community oriented service provider, which works with the population to ensure its safety and to reduce crime.