GSOC contributes to international seminar of police control and oversight institutions

GSOC was delighted to be asked to speak at the forthcoming international seminar of police control and oversight institutions, held in Pristina, Kosovo on 8 December. The conference is organised by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), in collaboration with the Police Inspectorate and Academy for Public Safety in the host country.
DCAF is an international foundation which promotes good governance and reform of the security sector. The Centre conducts research on good practices, encourages the development of appropriate norms at the national and international levels, makes policy recommendations, and provides in-country advice and assistance programmes.

The objectives of the seminar are to:

• Exchange best practices and experiences on police oversight and control.
• Compare human resources management procedures related to selection, promotion and training of the staff that are responsible for performing police oversight and control.
• Explore opportunities for future co-operation in the field of training with a focus on police oversight and control competencies.
• Discuss how psychological assessments of high risk behaviour can be used in police services, to signal and prevent vulnerability to integrity violations.

Deputy Director of Investigations at GSOC, Darren Wright, travelled to the seminar last week to speak and contribute to a number of panel discussions. He spoke about the following:

• How police oversight and control is provided for in Ireland; and GSOC’s role within this matrix.
• How our organisation is structured and staffed; and how it functions.
• Ongoing training measures.
• Challenges faced by the organisation in delivering on its functions.

The ultimate objective of the multi-stakeholder dialogue is to come up with strategies to strengthen police integrity in Kosovo. However we have no doubt that GSOC will have much to gain, as well as to give, from our participation in this international think-tank. Learning about successful practices in similar organisations in other countries, as well as solutions that have been found to challenges experienced, is key to continuous improvement of the system of police oversight in Ireland.