Skip navigation

0Meta Navigation

× Close search

Navigation

Home Newsroom News and press releases OSCE Mission to Skopje supports local prevention councils to enhance community policing
Newsroom

OSCE Mission to Skopje supports local prevention councils to enhance community policing

SKOPJE 19 February 2008
(OSCE/Mirvete Mustafa)Ambassador Giorgio Radicati (left), Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, and Minister of Interior Gordana Jankulovska at a conference on Local Prevention Councils, Skopje, 19 February 2008. (OSCE/Mirvete Mustafa) Photo details

SKOPJE, 19 February 2008 - Establishing a new mechanism at the local level to further facilitate community policing in the country is the aim of a conference, which started in Skopje today.

The Local Prevention Council, as the new mechanism is called, will enable the municipalities to co-operate more effectively with local police and other institutions, and will also facilitate the participation of citizens in the decision-making processes. The OSCE Mission to Skopje is supporting its technical implementation.

"Building and strengthening comprehensive and strategic partnerships is essential and becomes even more significant in any decentralized system that administers multi-ethnic communities," said Ambassador Giorgio Radicati, the Head of OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje.

The initiative is the result of a joint study conducted by the Interior Ministry and the Association of Mayors (ZELS). The Local Prevention Councils will primarily be responsible for ensuring co-ordination of local stakeholders, led by the Mayor, in addressing security-related issues.

ZELS President Andrej Petrov said that the project will help build a network of resources in the municipalities: "Through mutual co-operation with the police, we aim to create a safer environment for the citizens, but also to support the process of decentralization. The crucial mechanism for achieving these goals is the establishment of the Local Prevention Council".

Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska added: "Joint efforts and partnership of the local self government and the police will ensure a prompt response to local needs and concerns."

The OSCE Mission to Skopje will organize a series of workshops countrywide to instruct commanders of police stations and mayors on putting in place councils in their communities. The Local Prevention Councils build on the Mission's work with the Citizens Advisory Groups that were part of its community policing programme over the last several years.