CEPA Board Meeting in Slovenia
On 24 and 25 October 2022, the board of the Central European Police Academy met in Predoslje, Slovenia. In this decision-making body of CEPA, high-ranking representatives of the police forces from the seven CEPA member countries are represented to discuss and decide on the operational and strategic direction of CEPA.
The new board members from the Czech Republic and the host country Slovenia were especially welcomed.
On the agenda were the CEPA activities for 2023, namely the Certified CEPA Course 2023, the CEPA Special Course 2023 as well as the entire professional seminars and job shadowing.
The CEPA training courses and the public relations work of this year were also summarised and the publications, such as the CEPA journal for 2023, were discussed.
CEPA Course Leader Conference for the Certified CEPA Course 2023
From 18-20 October 2022, the Course Leaders' Conference for the Certified CEPA course 2023 was held in the Czech Republic/Prague at the Police Academy. The course leaders' conference focused on maintaining the quality and competence of this certified CEPA course at a high level.
The course instructors and police experts from the 7 CEPA countries discussed and organised the future schedule for the Certified CEPA Course 2023, which will take place next year in the CEPA countries, with the theme Prevention of and Fight against Internationally Relevant Crime. At the same time, the contents for this course were determined, which were based on the framework curriculum of the guidelines for the certification of the course according to EQF/NQF.
The Certified CEPA Course 2023 will last 7 weeks and will accommodate a total of 26 participants. The participants will be sent from the 7 CEPA countries. The last week will be organised by Hungary, where the closing ceremony of the course and the examination for the final certificates will be held.
The course will open in the Czech Republic in Prague on 27.03.2023 and will conclude with a ceremony in Budapest on 12.05.2023.
In the course of the CEPA course, experts from the CEPA countries will present the participants with the latest trends and methods in the fight against organised crime. The current forms of crime on the Internet and the strategies to combat them will also be a special focus of the course.
The focus will be on working on the workshop topic, which in 2023 will cover "The fight against internationally organised property crime".
At the end of the training, the participants will present their results on the workshop topic to an international audience of experts. At the same time, the participants will be examined in front of an examination board on the contents and the processing of the workshop and the related presentation. After positive completion of the course, participants will receive a certificate with 16 ETCS.
The closing event of the CEPA Special Course 2022 took place in a festive setting in Budapest
On 14 October 2022, the closing ceremony of the CEPA Special Course 2022 "Cross-border Cooperation in Compensatory Measures as well as in Border Police Tasks (for "Border Police Officers")" was held in Budapest at the Centre for International Training and Education.
Between 19 September and 14 October 2022, police officers from the seven CEPA member countries were given the opportunity to take part in this special course lasting four weeks, i.e. at the four training locations Bratislava, Rosenheim, Gotenica and in Budapest.
The course weeks focused on the latest strategies in the field of compensation measures and securing the EU's external borders.
The results of the workshop work on three different topics related to "border police" were both prepared in writing by the participating police officers and presented on 13 October 2022.
Colonel Dr. József Balla of the National Civil Service University, Chair of Border Police Sciences, mentioned the importance of cross-border cooperation and the necessary cooperation in the joint management of border police tasks during the keynote speech. The course speaker of the CEPA Special Course 2022 from the Czech Republic emphasised the uniqueness of the CEPA training event during his speech and thanked all those responsible at CEPA for organising this course.
The Deputy National Police Commissioner, Major General Dr. János Zoltán Kuczik, presented the certificates to the course participants and congratulated them on successfully completing the 23rd CEPA Special Course.
Opening of the CEPA Special Course 2022 in Bratislava
On 19 September 2022, the CEPA Special Course 2022 on "Cross-border cooperation in compensation measures as well as in border police tasks" was opened in Bratislava/SK. Mrs. Ingrid Weissová, member of the Board of Trustees and Head of the National Liaison Office of CEPA in Slovakia welcomed the course participants to the first week of the course and wished the participants every success.
Words of welcome followed from Dr. h. c. prof. JUDr. Lucia Kurilovská, Rector of the Police Academy in Bratislava, Mr. Damian Imre, Vice-President of the Police Corps and Mr. Ludovit Biro, 1st Deputy Director of Border Police and Aliens Police Office.
The representatives of the Central Coordination Office of CEPA in Austria welcomed the participants and thanked the organisers of the course week in Bratislava. The necessity of this training, which is unique in Europe in this kind and on this topic, was mentioned.
The 18 participants from the CEPA states will be introduced to the cultures of the countries and the working methods of the police units in the individual CEPA states in the field of border surveillance in 4 weeks at the locations Bratislava, Rosenheim, Gotenica and Budapest. Speakers from Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Austria will give lectures on border police tasks together with the national speakers from the course locations.
The course graduates will also get to know operational procedures in the individual CEPA states in the course of excursions and practical exercises.
On the topic of "Illegal Migration from the Perspective of Offender Groups", the course participants will prepare a workshop paper in writing, which will be presented to a panel of experts at the end of the course on 14 October 2022 in Budapest.
Personnel changes in the CEPA board
In the Czech Republic, there has been a change of personnel on the CEPA board.
Mr. Václav Jarý, Head of the Department of Security Research and Police Education at the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, is now the new CEPA Board Member in the Czech Republic.
CEPA welcomes Mr. Václav Jarý as the new CEPA board member and is looking forward to a good cooperation.
Ceremonial conclusion of the certified CEPA course 2022
On 16 September 2022, the certified CEPA course 2022 was concluded at a graduation ceremony with the presentation of certificates in Budapest at the Centre for International Training.
This course started on 01 August 2022 in Prague. The final week of this course took place in Budapest from 11 to 16 September 2022.
26 police practitioners from all seven CEPA member countries had the opportunity to participate in this MEPA training at the following locations: Prague (CZ), Wiesbaden (D), Vienna (A), Bern (CH), Ljubljana (SLO), Bratislava (SK) and Budapest (H).
The focus of this further training was on conveying and deepening investigation and combating strategies in the field of cross-border / international criminal police cooperation. For the first time, this further training was conducted with the aim of achieving a qualification assigned to level 5 of the Austrian Qualifications Framework (corresponding to level 5 of the European Qualifications Framework).
During the course, the participants worked on a case study on the main topic area "Economic crime exploiting the internet/money laundering". The written work was assessed by the workshop supervisors and the examination board chaired by the Vice President of the German Police University, Mr. Uwe Marquardt, on 14.09.2022. The results of the case study were then presented to an international panel and the examination board on 15 September in Budapest. Afterwards, the participants had to face the oral questions of the examination board.
To everyone's delight, all 26 participants completed the training positively. According to the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), 16 European Credits (EC) can be credited after positive completion of this CEPA training and attainment of the qualification "CEPA Course - Prevention of and Fight against Transnational Crime", certified according to EQF/NQF Level 5.
The written results of the case study will be made available to all investigators in the CEPA countries, which means that also those police officers who did not participate in the course can benefit from the results. In addition, the results will be available for download in the Insider on the CEPA homepage.
During the ceremonial speech, which was held this year by Mr. Stefan Aegerter, Director of the Swiss Police Institute, he mentioned the importance of CEPA in international police cooperation and expressed his joy and appreciation that all 26 participants had obtained the mentioned qualification.
The meeting of the course leaders of the CEPA countries also took place during the closing week. Besides evaluating the results of the current certified course, the experts and MEPA representatives set the first concrete tasks for the next certified CEPA course in 2023.
German course as preparation for the special course 2022
7 participants from those CEPA member states who do not have German as their mother tongue will attend a German language course in Vienna from 22 August to 02 September 2022. Under the guidance of the Central Coordination Office of CEPA, German trainers from the CEPA member states Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary will teach the participants specialised police vocabulary.
In the afternoons, the participants have to demonstrate what they have learned by visiting various police stations and museums. But they also have to complete tasks in public places in Vienna.
For example, the students visited the Police Museum in Vienna, where they were given interesting insights into the history of the Viennese police by the museum director.
All course participants should be prepared by the preparatory language course for the CEPA special course, which starts on 19 September 2022 in Bratislava/SK.
The Certified CEPA Course 2022 opened in Prague
From 01.08.2022 to 16.09.2022 the Certified CEPA Course 2022 will take place. This CEPA training is certified according to the Austrian National Qualifications Framework (NQF) at level 5 and will be completed with the qualification "CEPA Course - Prevention of and Fight against Transnational Crime". According to the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), 16 European Credits (EC) can be credited after positive completion of this CEPA course and achievement of the qualification.
This course will be held at the seven venues of the CEPA member countries, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, Slovakia and in Hungary. On 1 August, the MEPA training course was opened in Prague by Mr. David Fulka, Deputy Police Commissioner, Mr. Václav Jarý, Head of the Department of Police Education at the Ministry of the Interior, and Ms. Ivana Ježková, Director of the VPŠ a SPŠ Ministerstva vnitra v Praze (Higher and Intermediate Police College of the Ministry of the Interior in Prague).
The Certified CEPA Course 2022 will last seven weeks and there will be 26 participants from CEPA countries taking this CEPA advanced training. Participants will learn legal and strategic elements as well as operational and tactical measures to fight organised crime. Theoretical and practical methods for cross-border and police cooperation form the core of this CEPA training.
During the course, experts from the CEPA countries will introduce participants to the latest trends and methods in the fight against organised crime. Crimes such as human trafficking, drug-related crime and property crime will be covered in this course, as well as the latest manifestations in the field of "cyber-crime".
Participation in practical exercises in modern and efficient crime fighting will demonstrate the practical added value of this course.
During the course, the 26 participants attend workshops, whereby various tasks around the topic of "white-collar crime in connection with the Internet and money laundering" are to be worked on during the seven weeks. A case from practice serves as a basis. At the end of the course, the results of the workshops are presented to a panel of experts. The workshops will be accompanied or led by experienced experts from Germany and Slovakia.
Follow-up seminar for graduates of CEPA special courses of the years 1994, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2015 and 2016
The follow-up seminar for graduates of CEPA special courses of the years 1994, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2015 and 2016 took place in Hungary at the Centre for International Training between 11-15 July 2022; a total of 20 participants had the opportunity to meet again in Budapest.
The event was opened by the Hungarian CEPA Board of Trustees member, Brigadier General Dr. István FARKAS, Director of the Centre for International Training.
The objectives of the seminar were achieved: both the exchange of the latest information in the field of international border police cooperation and the strengthening of contacts among the seminar participants.
During the week together, there was an excellent seminar atmosphere. The speakers of the lectures were mostly participants of the seminar, i.e. course graduates from different years.
One of the invited speakers was Ministerialrat Dr. Thomas Herko, BMI liaison officer in Hungary, who gave an interesting lecture on how Austrian security interests are represented abroad. Brigadier General Dr. Sándor Fórizs, the former deputy rector of the Police College in Budapest, provided the participants with important information on the system of (border) police academic education. In the person of Dr. Sándor Fórizs, we were able to welcome that participant to the follow-up seminar who attended the earliest of the convened cohorts, the class of 1999. It is gratifying to see that CEPA continues to encourage active participation after almost 25 years.
The group had a technical excursion at the National Investigation Office in Székesfehérvár, where Pol. Captain Máté Zámbó, Chief Investigator at the Department for Combating International Crime gave an excellent overview of the fight against illegal migration in Hungary with the help of the camera surveillance system in the road network.
After this week of lectures, technical excursions at the National Bureau of Investigation as well as at the banknote printing house, with cultural programmes such as the visit to the Parliament or the visit to the Benedictine Abbey in Tihany - it was once again made clear how the concept of "CEPA family" can be lived.
CEPA Board of Trustees Meeting in Piešťany / Slovak Republic
The members of the Board of Trustees of the seven CEPA member countries met from 21 to 23 June at the annual Board of Trustees meeting to prepare CEPA's operational measures and activities for 2023. This event was organised by the CEPA National Liaison Office in Slovakia. The Board of Trustees is the preparatory and executive body of CEPA and implements the strategic directions of the CEPA Board.
The meeting was opened by Mr Martin Kaščák, Head of the CEPA National Liaison Office in Slovakia. On the first day of the conference, CEPA's training events from 2021 and the training carried out so far this year were summarised and evaluated on the basis of the available experiences and reports from CEPA's courses and seminars.
The agenda for the other two days of the meeting included an intensive work programme to plan the activities for 2023 and to implement the assignments of the CEPA Board from 2021. The content to be developed at the course leader meetings for the individual CEPA courses and the editorial measures to be taken at the CEPA online portal (www.mepa.net) were determined.
In 2023, sixteen advanced training courses will be offered on various specialist criminal and border police topics. The Certified CEPA Course 2023 and the CEPA Specialised Course 2023 will be offered within the Catalogue of Activities 2023. Job shadowing within the CEPA countries will also be possible.