U.S. Ambassador Marcie B. Ries Participates at Police School Reopening After U.S. and International Restructuring Support (September 8, 2006)

The U.S. Ambassador Marcie B. Ries, together with the Minister of Interior Sokol Olldashi, the Police Academy Director Piro Laze, other senior State police directors and international missions’ representatives, participated in the inaugural ceremony for the first class of recruits participating in the newly designed Basic Police School at the "Arben Zylyftari" Police Academy. The Academy was reopened for recruits following a major curriculum and management modernization process with the support of ICITAP (International Criminal Investigative Training and Assistance Program), PAMECA and other international missions.

Ambassador Ries said, "This inaugural class is an example of what can be achieved through collaboration and hard work. It is also just the first step in the ambitious effort to make the Albanian National Police a modern, professional and effective force." She commended the Academy management and staff along with the Albanian State Police working groups "for their work, transforming the "Arben Zylyftari" Police Academy. These students will be entering a modern training institution with a new curriculum, a field training component, redesigned promotion system, and a new Training Division in the Personnel Directorate."

Ambassador Ries wished the new recruits every success in their training, reminding them that they and their communities would be the direct beneficiaries of this training, concluding, "We want you to be proud of yourselves and Albanians to be proud of their national police."

The inauguration represents a significant milestone in ICITAP’s assistance to reform police training and professionalize the police force. ICITAP has helped shape the reorganization of the Police Academy Training Program by combining the former three-year academies and the one-year institute into a new curriculum that will also include both substantive classroom learning and field training. ICITAP advisors have also worked on the development of the promotion system, recruitment policy and the formation of a Training Division in the Personnel Directorate of the Albanian Police.

The training will enable a more comprehensive response to routine and emergency calls, the conduct of preliminary criminal investigations, enforcement and investigation of traffic incidents, implementation of an array of law enforcement strategies, and progress in the creation of community-based partnerships. The improved curriculum and

management processes are expected to greatly aid the preparation of a new more efficient, professional and modern Albanian police force.