YEREVAN, 24 November 2010 – Getting the first-hand information on the pace of the comprehensive police reform undertaken in Armenia is the main purpose of the two-day visit of the OSCE Senior Police Adviser Knut Dreyer, started today. “The OSCE welcomed the initiative of the Armenian authorities to launch an ambitious police reform programme that was presented to the attention of the OSCE Secretariat and the participating States in May this year. My visit here aims to help its implementation process by observing the progress and identifying potential areas of co-operation to move the reform forward”, said Dreyer. “The broad-scale nature of the reform requires sufficiently lengthy timeframe. It is necessary to work out relevant mechanisms for its implementation and to that end to set up special structures designated to elaborate a long-term strategy,” he added. In the course of the visit Dreyer is to meet with the Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Karen Karapetyan, Head of the Police Lieutenant-General Alik Sargsyan, the Secretary of the Armenia’s Security Council Arthur Baghdasaryan, the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defence, National Security and Internal Affairs of the National Assembly Hrayr Karapetyan. Police accountability and its democratic oversight, the challenges of educational reform, the anti-corruption measures in the law enforcement, as well as, introduction of the community policing were the issues the OSCE Senior Police Adviser discussed with his Armenian interlocutors. The scope of his visit also included visits to the only two educational institutions that prepare policemen in Armenia – the Police Centre for Induction Training and the Police Academy. “Without effective law enforcement and genuine respect for the rule of law and the institutions responsible for upholding it, there can be little likelihood of social, political or economic stability. Well-prepared police worker will provide a better service to the population. Therefore, I believe a pledge of successful police reform is the reform of the educational system, re-qualification of the present-day police officers and education of tomorrow’s generation in line with the principles of democratic policing,” Dreyer mentioned at the meetings with the Heads of the above-mentioned educational institutions. Within its Police Assistance Programme the OSCE Office in Yerevan supported the refurbishment of the Police Centre for Induction Training and currently assists in reviewing the curricula and modernizing the learning process. The OSCE Senior Police Adviser also visited the two outreach stations opened with the OSCE Office’s support in Arabkir district of Yerevan as a part of the community policing pilot project. “Another crucial component of the police reform is the community policing model as an inherent element of the democratic style of policing, since it enables strengthening the trust between the police and the public,” Dreyer noted. The OSCE Office in Yerevan

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