Regional conference on police reforms

20/09/2011

Regional conference on sharing experiences, best practices and lessons learned in the issue of police reforms in the Western Balkans (20-21 September 2011, Prishtinë/Pristina)

The Security Forum held in Prishtinë/Pristina on Tuesday, a regional conference on sharing experiences, best practices and lessons learned in the issue of police reform in the Western Balkans.

The regional conference has brought together non-governmental organisations, interns, experts, security institutions from Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. The goal of the conference was to exchange experiences and best practices in police reform processes in the Western Balkans, and to promote and strengthen regional cooperation between NGOs.

At the beginning, a discussion paper was introduced regarding reforms in the Kosovo Police concerning aspects of planning, decision-making and communication, as prepared by the Security Forum (attached to this press release).

In presentations by officials of police forces from the region and from organisations involved in security sector, examples from the region were provided, with a common thing amongst all countries being that process of reforms is taking place in these police forces. Almost all of these reforms have been pushed by reforms required from the process of European integrations. 

Common problems in police forces of the countries in the region are lack of budget to implement measures required by the reform, then political interference in decision-making in police, as well as low participation of civil society in drafting of legislation or strategic documents concerning these reforms.

What was required from these (regional) presentations and discussions, inter alia, was policing philosophy in these countries, apart from drafting of strategic documents and restructuring of the chain of command within police of a country, number of police officers and territorial organisation. What was different about the KP approach was its community policing approach, together with intelligence led methodology and sectorial division, where police superiors divide a territory of a dwelling place in order to establish a more active cooperation with citizens.

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