German Course in Villingen-Schwenningen

​From 22 February to 4 March 2016 the CEPA organized a course on specialized training of German in the premises of the Hochschule der Polizei of Baden-Württemberg. Seven police officers, originating from three CEPA-countries had the opportunity to improve and enhance their command of the German language.

Out of this seven, four participants were sent from Hungary, two from Slovenia and on colleague came from the Slovak Republic. From their technical field of work, many aspects, such as target investigators, members of a homicide department and forensic scientists, were covered.

Given the fact that all participants had already a good knowledge of German, the main focus of the course was on improving of the vocabulary and the communication skills in general. Of major importance in this respect was the on-going migration crisis; this topic led to intensive discussions in the context of the intercultural dialogue. Furthermore, also the respective structures of the police organizations, findings on criminal cases of major importance, as well as an insight into the history of the German Police Forces and in the former Eastern Bloc countries was given.

As social events the participants had the opportunity to visit the Police Museum of Stuttgart as well as the Police Presidium in Tuttlingen. Furthermore, a guided tour through Villingen and the Watch-Industry-Museum took place, which gave not only the basis for discussions, but also fostered the merging of the group.

Personnel changes within the Board of Directors of the CEPA – Germany

​Within the Board of Directors of the CEPA, two changes regarding German functionaries took place recently.

Deutsche Hochschule der Polizei, Münster:

Mr. Matthias Zeiser, Leitender Kriminaldirektor and Vice-President of the Deutsche Polizeihochschule replaced Dipl. Krim. Lars Wagner, Kriminaldirektor.

Mr. Lars Wagner will maintain his function within the Board of Trustees of the CEPA.   

 
Bundeskriminalamt:

Mr. Norbert Unger, Leitender Kriminaldirektor and Head of KI 3 of the Bundeskriminalamt, retired from his office, thus he also resigning from this function in the Board of Directors of the CEPA.

He is be replaced by Dr. Juliane Malzacher, newly appointed Head of KI 3, in the function as member of the Board of Directors of the CEPA.

Opening Ceremony of the 24th CEPA Main Course in Villingen-Schwenningen

​On 14 March 2016 the 24th CEPA Main Course with the focus on “Prevention and Combatting of internationally relevant Forms of Crime” took its start in the premises of the Academy of the Police of Baden-Württemberg in Villigen-Schwenningen.

Dr. Ralph Gutedel, German Member of the Board of Trustees of the CEPA and official of the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany stressed in his inaugural address the importance of the international co-operation in the field of combatting organized crime. He highlighted the importance of the CEPA in the field of advanced training and its uniqueness within the European training landscape.

The representative of the Central Coordination Office of the CEPA, Austria, Colonel Andreas Wolf welcomed the participants warmly and thanked the organizers of the German Federal Criminal Police Office and the Police Academy of Baden-Württemberg. He also mentioned the importance of this further training, which stands out in this form and in its themes in Europe. Colonel Wolf wished the course participants successful seven weeks of training.

The 26 participants originating from the 7 CEPA Member States will be introduced in the sequence of seven weeks in the work cultures and processes in the field of policing of the respective countries in the locations Villingen-Schwenningen, Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, Ljubljana Biel and Budapest.

Moreover, the participants will be presented with information concerning the most recent strategies for combatting international and organized crime. Legal and international regulations will round off the theoretical part of the programme. They also will be made familiar with operative procedures and tactical measures by the means of excursions and practical exercises.        

During the course, the participants will attend several workshops dealing with the topic “Gemeinsame Ermittlungsgruppen” resp. “Joint Investigation Teams” (JIT). The workshops will be conducted and supervised by Ms Kaja Lehr, Germany. They will elaborate final papers on their findings regarding three different issues. These findings will be presented to a group of experts on 29 April 2016 at the end of the course in Budapest. The written compositions can be found on the CEPA Website accordingly.   

CEPA-Course Leaders Conference – 22nd Special Course 2016

From 7 to 9 March 2016 the Course Leaders Conference related to the 22nd CEPA Special Course took place in the premises of the Federal Police Inspection of Berggießhübel nearby the city of Dresden.

The course leaders and the experts in the field of border policing from the seven CEPA countries designed the contents and the schedule for the Special Course on Compensatory Measures on Border Police, which will take place 2016 in the CEPA countries Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria.

The Special Course will last for four weeks and is foreseen for a total of 24 participants from all seven CEPA countries. The duration of four weeks means that in each of the three locations two CEPA countries will be responsible for the contents of the course, whereas it will be additionally up to Austria to organize the solemn closure ceremony.

The Course will start on 12 September 2016 in Bad Endorf in Germany and will be terminated on 7 October 2016 in Vienna. During the duration of the Course, the participants will be travelling from once Course location to the respective next one. The note for application for the Special Course will be published within the next weeks.

In the sequence of the course the participants will be informed about the recent trends and methodologies in combatting trans-border crime. The international and cross-border co-operation and the definition of common co-operation measures will form the cornerstone of the Course. Furthermore, also the actual situation of the mass-migration will have a high priority in this Course.

The participants will be instructed furthermore in effective and up-to-date measures in border control policing.

Moreover, the participants will attend workshops during the training sessions, where they will elaborate three exposés dealing with various subjects on border policing. The overarching workshop theme will be the current issues related to "Mass-Migration in Europe". At the end of the Course the findings of the workshops will be presented to a forum of experts. The workshops will be moderated and conducted by experienced border police officers from Germany and Switzerland.   

ISEC NCP-Meeting in Raach

​The new CEPA homepage resp. website has been launched meanwhile. Now the website appears not only in a totally new design, but it is also connected with state-of-the-art features, considerably more user-friendly and clearly arranged.

From 1 to 3 March 2016 a meeting was held in the Seminar Centre in Raach im Hochgebirge in Austria, under the participation of officials of the National Contact Points, representatives of the Police of Baden-Württemberg and the Central Coordination Office (ZKB) for a first introduction into the new website. The officials of the National Contact Points were trained on the new website and the tools and functionalities that come with it.

Everybody came to the conclusion that the new website of the CEPA will be one of the most important mainstays of its way into the future.

ISEC Project Leader Meeting December 2015

From 14 to 16 December 2015 a Project Leader Meeting took place in Stuttgart in the premises of the Presidium “Technik, Logistik und Service” of the State Police Directorate of Baden-Württemberg.
On the agenda of this meeting, in which representatives of the Central Coordination Office of CEPA and their colleagues of the Police of Baden-Württemberg participated, were issues of the implementation of the new website of CEPA, which is co-founded by the European Commission in the context of an ISEC-Project, and the determination of the web-design regarding this website. Meanwhile, also the work packages for the commissioning of this website were defined.

CEPA Work Shadowing

2015 the Central European Police Academy facilitated exchange programmes for 30 officials, carried out by work shadowing.
 

Work shadowing means further training provided by CEPA, which are offered based on a mutual agreement bilaterally between the CEPA Member States. 30 officials took the opportunity to gain knowledge in the various fields of operational methodologies concerning combatting Organized Crime in the respective CEPA Member States. Thus, the already existing contacts to offices abroad could be deepened and the international police co-operation enhanced as well.

Germany and Austria were amongst the most sought-after host countries. Hungary sent the most number of guest students. The most important topics were economic crime and international border-police co-operation.   

The 3rd CEPA Journal has been published

​Foreign Fighters – Challenges for Law Enforcement and the Civil Society

The Journal deals with the issues related to Foreign Fighters and the challenges toward the Law Enforcement Landscape and the Civil Society. Print editions will be distributed on request of Police Organizations or police officers via the National Contact Points resp. the Central Coordination Office of the Sicherheitsakademie.

CEPA-Seminar „Police Co-Operation by and in conjunction with Police Cooperation Centres“

​From 16 to 20 November 2015, as the final event of the CEPA activities in the year 2015 the seminar “Police Co-operation by and in conjunction with Police Cooperation Centres” was organized by the colleagues of Switzerland in the town of Biel.

18 law enforcement officers from six of the seven CEPA Member States participated in this event. The agenda was set up as a bunch of flowers. The participants learned about the police organisation in Switzerland, and moreover, about the tasks of the Liaison Office located in Basle and cross-border police cooperation in the field of mutual assistance. The Federal Criminal Service presented their approach related to analyses. The topic “analyses” was even more emphasized by a specialist of the Police Co-Operation Centre at the Swiss-Italian border in Chiasso. Another session dealt with the subject “Awareness and Public Relations”, which led to intensive discussions. A tour through the western part of Switzerland introduced the participants into the work of the Swiss-German Police Co-Operation Centre CCPD (Centre de Coopération Policière et Douanière) and the Operations Centre of the Border Guards in Geneva. After visiting the Castle of Gruyères, a farewell dinner completed the day. The participants, who in part had already taken the opportunity to attend similar seminars, took great benefit from the exchange of experience in their field of work concerning the Joint Co-Operation Centres and also gave presentations about their professional fields of activities.

ISEC-Workshop in Vienna

​From 9 to 13 November 2015 the 3rd CEPA-Workshop concerning the further improvement of the IT-Landscape of the CEPA-ISEC funded Project took place in the premises of the Sicherheitsakademie in Vienna

On the agenda were chiefly the further steps for developing the implementation of the new website mepa-isec.net as well as the drafting of new work packages and other technical issues. In the course of this Workshop the next key elements regarding the change of the IT-System towards SharePoint 2013, such as the creation of new websites were realized. The public areas of the CEPA-Website ww.mepa.net will be available in both German and English at the beginning of 2016.