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Press release

OSCE Skopje Mission shares community policing best practices with Kosovo specialists

Date:
Place:
SKOPJE
Source:
OSCE Mission to Skopje
Fields of work:
Policing
SKOPJE, 25 January 2007 - A delegation from the Kosovo Centre for Public Safety Education and Development arrived in Skopje today to study community policing best practices.

The community policing concept was first introduced in 2002 by the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje together with the Interior Ministry in order to increase the confidence of citizens in the police and help make police work more efficient.

"We have supported the Interior Ministry in implementing community policing activities, aimed at improving inter-community relations," said Pierre Chassagne, Acting Head of the Mission's Police Development Unit. "One of the first steps was to create Citizen Advisory Groups, a partnership between police, municipality and local citizens." .

Tamara Duffey, of the Kosovo Centre for Public Safety Education and Development, which is run by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, added: "Many of the issues that Kosovo communities deal with are similar to those in Macedonia. We hope to learn more about the Citizen Advisory Groups developed by the OSCE Mission to Skopje in order to use their experience and build cross-border partnerships."