UNOMIG police facilitates training courses abroad for Georgian law enforcement officers
Since being added to the Mission in 2003 (SC Resolution 1494 of 2003), UNOMIG Police have worked closely with the local law enforcement agencies to improve the security conditions by assisting in training them in the conflict zone in Abkhazia, Georgia. UNOMIG police officers advise, monitor, assist and train the local police on law enforcement and human rights issues and provide equipment.
Within the last two and a half years training has been an important part of the agenda. UNOMIG Police initiated and implemented a series of training, to include: "Crime Scene Management" for forensic police experts; "Crime Prevention and Community Policing" for the police command, patrol officers of the Patrol Police, representatives of the public administration and other public institutions; "Special Psychological Tactical Training in Extreme Situations" for police commanders; "First Steps at a Crime Scene" and "Police Tactics in Random Traffic Checks" for Patrol Police officers as well as operative officers on the district police level; and "Leadership Challenges" - a monthly training cycle for the police and administration senior management.
From the first training session on Basic Human Rights training in October 2004, UNOMIG Police have emphasized conveying internationally recognized standards of democratic policing to local counterparts. UNOMIG Police also facilitated the participation of local police officers in training abroad. Thus far, sixty Georgian police officers have benefited from various training in Turkey, Hungary and Estonia.
On 5 May 2006, a group of twelve Georgian police officers left for Estonia to participate in a six-week course on "Training on Police Tactics and Modern Policing", conducted by the Police School of the Estonian Public Service Academy (EPSA) in Paikuse, Estonia. The group was accompanied by Mr. Bruno Unternaehrer, the UNOMIG Deputy Senior Police Advisor who had been invited by the Head of the Academy to take part in the Inauguration ceremony.
It was in June 2005, that a delegation comprising representatives from the Regional Police Headquarters of Samegrelo Zemo Svaneti Region and the Police Academy in Tbilisi, along with the UNOMIG representatives made a study visit to the Police School of the Estonian Public Service Academy. The study visit ended with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between UNOMIG and the EPSA on possible cooperation to facilitate training of law enforcement officers from the conflict zone in Abkhazia, Georgia.
The first group of local law enforcement officials that benefited from the Memorandum of Understanding between the UNOMIG and EPSA comprised twelve Georgian Police Officers. The group participated in the six-week middle management course on "Training on Police Tactics and Modern Policing" starting from 6 February to 17 March 2006. The training schedule was divided into four modules, namely: Basics of the Modern Police Work, Tactics of the Patrol Police, Actions at the Crime Scene and Methods of Teaching.
The participants were impressed by the modern police training facilities in Estonia and expressed the hope that someday Georgia too would be able to have similar training facilities. They stressed that they have been able to not only gain professional knowledge but also enhance their job skills. The group also appreciated the warm hospitality of the host country.
Another training course abroad attended by Georgian police officers took place at the International Law-Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Budapest, Hungary from 18 October to 18 December 2005.
The training program was focused on leadership, personnel and financial management, human rights, ethics, the rule of law, management of the investigative process, and other contemporary law enforcement issues.
The training was facilitated by UNOMIG Senior Police Advisor, Colonel Jozsef Boda, funded by UNOMIG Police and supported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.
The nineteen Georgian police officers, all from crime investigation units, shared this course with eighteen crime investigators from Hungary and Ukraine. The instructors, from Hungary, Austria, The Netherlands and the United States of America Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), offered contemporary methods of fighting against organized crime, terrorism, drug abuse and human trafficking. Practical exercises, such as "hostage rescue" and "disarmament of armed perpetrators", led to a profound understanding of the theory presented during the training.
UNOMIG Police training of local law enforcement agencies and local police officers complement the Mission's efforts to contribute to conditions that would encourage the return of internally displaced persons and refugees to their homes left during the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia.