Police training and development plays a key role in INTERPOL’s overall mission to promote international police co-operation. The aim is to help officials in INTERPOL’s 188 member countries to improve their operational effectiveness, enhance their skills and build their capacity to address the increasingly globalized and sophisticated nature of crime today.
INTERPOL offers many tools and services – for example, databases – to its member countries. To ensure that members can maximize their use, INTERPOL has launched a number of initiatives to develop expertise and facilitate knowledge-sharing.
To acknowledge the considerable importance that INTERPOL attaches to the training needs of member countries, the Organization designated Police training and development as its fourth core function in 2007.
The strategic objectives for INTERPOL’s training activities for 2008-2010 are as follows:
In 2008, a total of 83 police training programmes were delivered, benefiting 2,722 participants from 169 countries.
INTERPOL International Police Training Programme
INTERPOL has developed an advanced 10-week training programme for police officers from law enforcement agencies and National Central Bureaus (NCBs). The INTERPOL International Police Training Programme (IIPTP) is aimed at officers with responsibility for international police co-operation, and of sufficient rank to bring about change and improvement upon return to their respective administrations. Participants gain knowledge and skills, in particular of INTERPOL’s systems and services, through training and hands-on experience at the General Secretariat. Three sessions are conducted each year.
Executive Police Development Programme
The Executive Police Development Programme (EPDP) is an exclusive and in-depth training programme targeting African law-enforcement officers at police senior management level. It is developed as part of the “OASIS Africa” programme (Operational Assistance, Services and Infrastructure Support) funded by the German Government.
The nine-week programme is divided into three modules. While back in their countries between the modules, the participants are required to complete project work and prepare strategic documents using the new tools, information and networking they have acquired.
Through attending the event, police leaders enhance their knowledge and capacity to prevent and combat national, regional and international crime. The learning objectives are practical and specifically designed to meet the policing challenges of the 21st century.
Core competency guidelines for NCB staff
Core competency guidelines for NCB staff have been developed by a group of NCB volunteers representing each of INTERPOL’s regions, together with representatives from the General Secretariat. The guidelines outline five main areas of competencies required of NCB staff.
INTERPOL “Training Quality Assurance” (TQA)
A project is under way to define an INTERPOL “Training Quality Assurance” (TQA). The aims of the TQA are to ensure that General Secretariat training programmes apply the standards as recommended in the “INTERPOL Guide to Effective Training”, that the training cycle is fully respected to reach the best quality, and that resources are used efficiently.
Sharing knowledge among member countries
A number of initiatives are in place in order to facilitate co-operation and the sharing of learning resources among member countries:
- The INTERPOL Global Learning Centre (IGLC) will deliver a web-based learning platform, divided in two phases over 2009 and 2010. Phase one will centralize all available INTERPOL police training information, including a directory of training experts, a library of e-learning modules, a calendar of training events and a list of online links. As part of phase two, a knowledge bank will be developed allowing member countries to input and share their training resources and feed the repository of research papers and best practices.
- INTERPOL’s Regional Bureaus (RBs) are being strengthened in collaboration with regional police chiefs’ bodies and other organizations. Each Bureau has been equipped with modern training facilities, and the role of RBs is currently being examined with a view to enhancing their training services.
National Central Bureaus (NCBs) are INTERPOL’s link with national police forces and they are increasingly called upon to play a greater operational role as INTERPOL expands the range of its activities and services.
- INTERPOL is exploring opportunities to establish a network of training institutions and universities that can address priority crime areas and enhance our skills in using hi-tech tools. In a significant step forward, more than 20 INTERPOL stakeholders from all over the world convened in December 2009 and agreed on the establishment of the INTERPOL Group of Experts on Police Training (IGEPT). Apart from further IGEPT action, several co-operation agreements have been signed with the aim of enhancing international police learning and advancing operational excellence. An INTERPOL Anti-Heroin Smuggling Training Centre has been established in Moscow, and an International Anti-Corruption Academy is being created in Austria.
Internal training for General Secretariat staff
INTERPOL has a responsibility to ensure that all staff members are fully trained to perform their duties effectively and efficiently. Training is competency-based, meaning that a set of common capabilities (knowledge, skills, experience, values, behaviour and attitudes) have been identified and are applied as appropriate to individual posts. This allows the post holder to perform as effectively as possible and permits consistency in evaluations. In addition, continuity and “organizational memory” is being promoted through the sharing of knowledge.
