OSCE Office launches web site for Mingechevir City Police

BAKU, 15 September 2008 - The OSCE Office in Baku and the Interior Ministry inaugurated a new web site for police in the city of Mingechevir today, making this city the first in the country to have such a police department site.

The web site offers information about crime in the city and the police department's activities to fight crime. It also provides a link between the population and police, for example by enabling users to contact the police force online.

"The web site will raise public awareness about the work of the police department, and it will highlight community policing, brought to Azerbaijan through co-operation between the OSCE and national authorities," said John MacGregor, Politico-Military Officer at the OSCE Office.

Community policing is based on the idea that police officers and community members should work together to solve local problems related to crime, fear of crime and other different social problems.

The Interior Ministry and the OSCE Office worked together to introduce community policing as a pilot project in the city of Mingechevir two years ago. The success in Mingechevir led the Ministry and the OSCE Office to introduce a second pilot project in the city of Shirvan in 2007. This year, community policing has been introduced in eight additional cities across the country.

The Mingechevir City Police website may be accessed through the following link: http://www.mingachevirpolice.az/