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OAS AND CHILE’S INVESTIGATIONS POLICE SIGN AGREEMENT FOR TRAINING OF POLICE OFFICERS IN MEMBER COUNTRIES

A Memorandum of Understanding that the Organization of American States Organization of American States (OAS) signed in Washington today with Chile’s Investigations Police provides for a series of projects to strengthen the capacity of police officers in the hemispheric organization’s Member States.

Signed as part of the Inter-American Police Training Program—operated by the OAS Department of Public Security—the agreement will facilitate, among other activities, the horizontal transfer of experience and use of police training centers.

OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza signed the Memorandum of Understanding along with the Director General of Chile’s Investigations Police, Arturo Herrera, during a ceremony held at OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C.

“This strategic alliance will allow us to help provide the region’s police with training as part of the education system, to address our weaknesses or shortcomings as police officers,” said Herrera, who is also INTERPOL’s Vice President for the Americas. He thanked the OAS for the opportunity to sign this Memorandum of Understanding.

Secretary General Insulza, meanwhile, noted this important initiative involves strengthening the capacity and quality of police forces in the Americas, as part of the new democratic process. He praised Chile Investigations Police for its competence and efficiency, expressing satisfaction at the willingness to share its resources, technological capabilities and experience. “This joint effort between the Investigations Police and the OAS will bring a lot of benefits to our region,” declared Insulza. Besides, it will help to advance the objective of making “the issue of public security one of the most important areas of work in our organization,” he added.

Among the first joint activities to be pursued under this agreement is a workshop on “Police Accountability,” to be held during the first quarter of 2008 at the Investigations Police Training School in Santiago, Chile. Other projects being contemplated include courses on investigating criminal organizations; planning police operations; and a meeting of heads of national police academies, to discuss police training in the Americas, among other issues.

The initiative is also an important part of the Ministerial Conference on Crime and Violence proposed by the Secretary General, for which training for police institutions in the region is a major agenda item.

Those on hand for the signing included OAS Permanent Council Chairman, Ambassador Cornelius Smith of the Bahamas, and Director of OAS Department of Public Security, Christopher Hernández-Roy, among other OAS Secretariat officials.

Reference: E-009/08