Police assistance

Police assistance activities of the OSCE Mission to Georgia

The Mission has worked closely with the OSCE Secretariat's Strategic Police Matters Unit to assist Georgia with its police reform agenda. With the combined expertise of 56 States at its disposal, the OSCE is in a strong position to offer assistance in areas such as community policing, police training, human resource management, riot control, general reform, codes of conduct and international standards.

Police Assistance Programme for Georgia

Following a needs assessment, a short-term police assistance project for the Georgian police was implemented from September 2005 to March 2006, funded through extra-budgetary contributions from Belgium and Norway. The success of the project led to the launch of the Police Assistance Programme in 2007. Highlights of the Programme have included the following:

Institution and capacity building for community policing

• The first community policing seminar was held in May 2007 for 15 officers from Samtskhe-Javakheti region. Issues addressed included policing in multi-ethnic environments, with contributions from the Police Academy and a relevant NGONGO
  non-governmental organization.
• The first "Police Open Day" was held in one of Tbilisi's police stations on 1 June 2007 and was positively covered by Georgian media.
• Almost 40 children participated in a drawing competition in the public school No.1 in Borjomi. Best drawings were awarded and five drawings were printed on posters and distributed throughout Georgia.
• A study visit in Germany was organized for Georgian senior ministry staff. The issues of crime prevention and neighbourhood policing were addressed and recommendations were forwarded to the Minister of Internal Affairs.
• Several crime prevention measures were introduced and are under implementation.
• The second community policing training course, for officers of the Vake-Saburtalo and Didube-Chugureti districts, as well as for officers representing the patrol police from Tbilisi was conducted in July 2007.
• The Mission sponsored IT training and supported the provision of communication equipment for all neighbourhood officers from pilot sites. The respective police stations were renovated.
• A public opinion poll in three pilot sites was conducted in August 2007. The results were presented to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the development of new strategies for implementing community policing.
• A national conference on community policing was held in August 2007 and a national community policing concept was drafted and discussed with all relevant stakeholders in the country.

Basic improvements to the human resources management (HRM) system of the Georgian police

• Two international experts delivered training on interviewing techniques. A special workshop was dedicated to developing structured interviewing models and evaluating interviews.
• Workshops on writing job descriptions and descriptions of the responsibilities of the criminal police were conducted.
• Training in basic computer skills was organized for HRM personnel from the regions. The course provided advice on describing tasks relating to digitization of personnel records, types of files and forms, necessary software and the set-up of computers.
• The Mission procured 30 personal computers and 21 office stations for personnel units.
• Workshops were conducted on administrating personnel records.
• The most suitable testing instruments (psychometric tests) for personnel selection and promotion were identified together with the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The adaptation of tests to the local cultural and linguistic environment started in August 2007.
• A one-week study trip to Estonia was organized in October 2007 for the designers of the centralized personnel database.

Improvement of the training process at the Police Academy

• An international expert prepared the basic community policing training course and trained local instructors.
• A contracted NGO delivered victim care/domestic violence training for police officers.
• An international expert conducted a train-the-trainers course in modern teaching methods for instructors of the Police Academy.
• An Internet lab was set up in the Police Academy with 10 terminals; the dedicated room was renovated and web research training of instructors was conducted.
• A new English-language centre was opened at the Police Academy in March 2008 to enable Georgian police officers to learn English and thus improve their ability to co-operate with their international counterparts.

Police-related assistance in the Georgian-South Ossetian zone of conflict

The Mission provided assistance to law enforcement and police-related activities in the Georgian-South Ossetian zone of conflict. The aim was to develop law enforcement co-operation between the Georgian and South Ossetian sides on practical issues such as exchange of information, regular meetings, and the establishment of an operative communication centre in the zone of conflict.