OSCE presents guide on police training

VIENNA, 31 October 2008 - The OSCE's Strategic Police Matters Unit presented a new guide on basic police training in Vienna today, on the final day of its annual Police Experts Meeting.

The Good Practices in Basic Police Training - Curricula Aspects, a companion piece to the OSCE's Guidebook on Democratic Policing, provides police educators with a core curriculum for recruits aiming to become uniformed police personnel in democratic societies.

"Police agencies must constantly adapt the training and education officers receive to address the new demands and expectations from their government and citizens," said Kevin Carty, Senior Police Adviser to the OSCE Secretary General. "The guide provides a useful foundation for the educators who will help future police officers develop the initiative, knowledge and vision they need to solve problems creatively."

The guide recognizes that uniformed police personnel's day-to-day decision-making and actions are based on underlying values, sound judgment and a set of learned skills and knowledge. It is divided into three sections and employs a modular approach, with each learning component laid out in easy-to-view blocks.

It is available in English and will soon be available in Russian. Copies of the English version will be available for policing experts attending the annual Police Experts Meeting on Fighting the Threat of Cybercrime, which ends today in Vienna. It will be also distributed to OSCE field operations and delegations, and can be downloaded on the OSCE's POLIS website: http://polis.osce.org/library/details?doc_id=3555.