OSCE Centre in Bishkek supports Local Crime Prevention Centres in central Kyrgyzstan
BISHKEK, 9 September, 2010 - An OSCE-supported forum that aims to strengthen Local Crime Prevention Centres in Naryn province in central Kyrgyzstan started today.
The one-day forum, organized by the non-governmental organization Nurjolber is part of an OSCE Centre in Bishkek project to promote community policing, which aims to foster co-operation and trust between communities and their police services.
Meeting participants will discuss the role of Local Crime Prevention Centres in fostering interaction among the police, local authorities and communities to promote public security and crime prevention.
"Maintaining and encouraging public order and preventing crime is a shared responsibility of local communities, law-enforcement bodies and local government," said Ambassador Andrew Tesoriere, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek. "The Forum seeks to strengthen this collective, consultative approach and local authorities' capacity to foster community vigilance and care."
Participants include Interior Ministry officials, the Naryn deputy governor and local officials, Local Crime Prevention Centre representatives and police officers from Jalal-abad and Issyk-Kul provinces. At the end of the meeting they are expected to adopt recommendations on how to improve co-operation between police, local authorities and communities and 66 Local Crime Prevention Centres in the Naryn province. The recommendations will be presented to the Naryn provincial administration, police directorate and relevant departments at the Interior Ministry, the Finance Ministry and other government bodies.
The Chief of the Main Public Safety Department at the Interior Ministry, Erkin Baev, added: "Community policing and the Local Crime Prevention Centres play a key role in crime prevention. Our law on crime prevention aims to unify the crime-prevention efforts of authorities, local self-governance institutions, police and communities."
At the end of the Forum, the OSCE Centre will also donate three computers to three Local Crime Prevention Centres that were selected as the most successful in 2009.