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OSCE mission brings British police officers, local government representatives to train police and municipal officials in south Serbia
BELGRADE 11 November 2004
BELGRADE, 11 November, 2004 - As part of the Community Policing and Community Safety programmes to assist the Serbian Interior Ministry in its efforts to reform the police, the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro has brought British police officers and local government representatives to exchange their experience with their counterparts in southern Serbia and Belgrade.
"To ensure that community safety issues are addressed at the municipal level, it is essential that all authorities not only understand the role of the police, but also their own roles and responsibilities," said Lynne Bardell, the OSCE Mission's Community Police Adviser.
The OSCE Mission contributed to this through a local safety workshop that brought together local police chiefs, members of the local government and representatives of health, education and welfare authorities from Bujanovac, Medvedja and Presevo to discuss the partnership approach to local safety concerns.
The workshop served as a forum for discussion between key institutions/agencies on how different organisations, with sometimes contrasting demands on their resources and separate areas of competences, can formulate strategies that meet the needs of their communities.
The first workshop, held on 9 November, gave local government officials and police from south of Serbia a chance to benefit from the experiences of their British colleagues from Leicestershire Constabulary and Leicester City Council in building their own community safety partnerships for the benefit of all the citizens in this ethnically mixed region of the UK.
The second workshop held today will give members of the Serbian Interior Ministry's Community Policing and Prevention Department a chance to explore and exchange ideas on both municipal and national community safety strategies.
"The OSCE identified community policing as one of six priority areas for police reform in Serbia in 2001 and the Interior Ministry has recognised the potential of community policing in developing a police service which is responsive to the needs of the public," added Ms. Bardell.
"To ensure that community safety issues are addressed at the municipal level, it is essential that all authorities not only understand the role of the police, but also their own roles and responsibilities," said Lynne Bardell, the OSCE Mission's Community Police Adviser.
The OSCE Mission contributed to this through a local safety workshop that brought together local police chiefs, members of the local government and representatives of health, education and welfare authorities from Bujanovac, Medvedja and Presevo to discuss the partnership approach to local safety concerns.
The workshop served as a forum for discussion between key institutions/agencies on how different organisations, with sometimes contrasting demands on their resources and separate areas of competences, can formulate strategies that meet the needs of their communities.
The first workshop, held on 9 November, gave local government officials and police from south of Serbia a chance to benefit from the experiences of their British colleagues from Leicestershire Constabulary and Leicester City Council in building their own community safety partnerships for the benefit of all the citizens in this ethnically mixed region of the UK.
The second workshop held today will give members of the Serbian Interior Ministry's Community Policing and Prevention Department a chance to explore and exchange ideas on both municipal and national community safety strategies.
"The OSCE identified community policing as one of six priority areas for police reform in Serbia in 2001 and the Interior Ministry has recognised the potential of community policing in developing a police service which is responsive to the needs of the public," added Ms. Bardell.