U.S. Funds Crisis Response Training for Albanian State Police Officials (March 6, 2008)

U.S. Ambassador John L. Withers II and Minister of Interior Bujar Nishani greeted 24 Albanian State Police officials departing for a “Crisis Response Training” in the U.S.

The five-week training will take place in North Carolina, at one of the most advanced tactical police training facilities in the world.  Nineteen of the twenty four officers attended the first phase of “crisis response training” in Louisiana. This training will further develop the professional capacity of the tactical units that are the first responders in the fight against organized crime, in particular drug trafficking and smuggling rings.  The training will also be an opportunity to strengthen cooperation on security and law enforcement issues between the Albanian State Police and the U.S. law enforcement agencies.

U.S. Ambassador Withers encouraged the participants to make the most out of the training in order to confront more effectively the challenges posed by organized crime.

The total cost of this particular training is 700,000 dollars.  The training is coordinated by the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Office of Anti-Terrorist Assistance (DSATA) and the Embassy Regional Security Office.  DS/ATA has trained over 14,000 international police officers around the world since 1991.  In the past 8 years, DS/ATA has trained over 500 Albanian State Police officials in the U.S.