​On 8 May 2015, the 23rd MEPA main course was concluded with a handover ceremony of certificates in Budapest.

The handover ceremony for the participants of the 23rd MEPA main course on ”Prevention and fighting of internationally relevant crime“ was organised in Budapest in the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior, Centre for International Training and Education, and was attended by high-ranking national and international guests.

The 23 police practitioners from the MEPA member states dealing with criminal police tasks  were offered the opportunity to participate in this MEPA further training course held between 23rd June and 8 May 2015 at seven locations – Budenheim (G), Prague (CZ), Bratislava (SK), Traiskirchen (A), Ljubljana (SLO), Biel (CH) and Budapest (H). 

This further training course was focused on the provision and intensification of investigation and combating strategies in the field of cross-border / international crime as well as the related increase and improvement of police cooperation at the regional level.

During the course, the participants concentrated on the main workshop issue of “Joint Investigation Groups (JIT)“. The workshop results on ”searching, securing, seizure“, “hearing of witnesses“ and “right of arresting, inspection of records“ were elaborated both in writing and presented to an international audience during the closing event.

The written results of the workshops will be made available to all investigating officers in the MEPA member states so that also those police officers not participating in the course will be able to profit from the results. In addition, the results will be offered for download from the MEPA insider homepage.

During his speech, Dr Wolfgang Willi, head of the Centre for International Affairs of the Security Academy of the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior, underlined the importance of MEPA for international police cooperation.

The participants Ms Gabriella Szabo (H) and Dietmar Muschner (D) referred to the unique character of MEPA’s further training activities and thanked all those responsible for the implementation and organisation of the course.

The certificates on the successful completion of the 23rd MEPA main course were handed over by the Director General of the Centre for International Further Training Activities of the Ministry of the Interior in Hungary and Member of the MEPA Board of Trustees, Dr Istvan Farkas, and by the head of MEPA in Hungary, Mag. Zoltan Feher.

As part of the closing event also the MEPA main course managers’ meeting was held. In addition to the evaluation of the results of the present main course the experts and representatives of MEPA submitted first concrete tasks for the next MEPA main course in 2016.