OSCE Mission trains Montenegrin police officers on surveillance techniques

DANILOVGRAD, 18 May 2007 - Montenegrin police officers studied surveillance techniques and how they can be used to fight organized crime during an OSCE Mission to Montenegro training course that ended today.

Sixteen Montenegrin police officers who are members of the Montenegrin Crime Service Surveillance Unit took part in the two-week course at the Police Academy in Danilovgrad, organized in co-operation with the Turkish International Academy Against Drugs and Organized Crime.

The course focused on practical aspects of surveillance and included field exercises on various techniques.

Topics taught in the course included communication skills, group dynamics, conflict management, problem solving and motivation theories.

"This training programme has helped to enhance the Montenegrin police service's capacity to collect criminal intelligence through the use of surveillance in the fight against organised crime," said Ambassador Paraschiva Badescu, Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro.

Four unit members will receive further OSCE-organized training so that they can be certified as trainers for new police service staff.

The OSCE Mission has named the fight against organized crime a priority area in the field of police reform. Combating organized crime is also singled out as a priority in a memorandum of understanding signed in April 2007 by the Interior Ministry and the OSCE Mission.