On Friday, 28th June 2019, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia – the Basic Police Training Centre in Sremska Kamenica and Ministry of Interior of Hungary – the Law Enforcement School Szeged, Hungary. The Memorandum was signed by Police Colonel Želimir Mrdalj, head of the Basic Police Training Centre in Sremska Kamenica and Police Colonel Csaba Dr. Bardócz, director of Law Enforcement School of Szeged.

The meeting was held at the Basic Police Training Centre in Sremska Kamenica, and the head of the Police Training Centre, Lieutenant Colonel Željko Brkić, PhD, and Lieutenant Colonel Gordana Filipović, coordinator at the Police Training Centre, also expressed their support for the renewed cooperation. On behalf of the Basic Police Training Centre, there were also Lieutenant Colonel Sonja Jakovljević, coordinator at the Basic Police Training Centre and Police Advisor Stana Milenković, as an English language interpreter.

On behalf of the Law Enforcement School from Szeged, this event was also attended by Police Colonel Mr Róbert Szilágyi, senior teacher and Ms Edit Balog, Senior Officer for International Relations, as an English language interpreter.

This step was preceded by extensive preparations. Namely, after the initiation of the renewed cooperation by our colleagues from Hungary, as the procedure requires, the issue has been raised to the highest level. At a session held on 18th April 2019, the Government decided that the basis for signing the Memorandum on support and cooperation in the area of joint training has been determined. In this issued conclusion the text of the Memorandum was approved and the head of the Basic Police Training Centre was authorized to sign it.

On the basis of this Memorandum of Understanding, intending to promote the bilateral cooperation and reaffirm the mutual commitments for cooperating in the area of joint training, activities to be implemented will include exchange programmes for professional staff and trainees, exchange of experiences and data, elaborating a joint training programme and conducting prevention-related joint trainings and projects.

This is not the first time that cooperation with the Law Enforcement School in Szeged has been acomplished. Cooperation in the field of education and professional training of police officers was initiated through the IPA cross-border cooperation project “Borders Without Borders” implemented by the Law Enforcement School from Szeged and the then Secondary School of Internal Affairs – Basic Police Training Centre from Sremska Kamenica during 2010/2011. The project included foreign language learning, establishing a joint platform for distance learning in the area of border control, and sharing experiences and best practices through learning about the partner’s police education system.

Visit of the 6th generation of the Basic Police Training Centre trainees to the Law Enforcement School in Szeged, 2011​

As the previous cooperation in the field of joint training gave positive results and raised the level of competence of the members of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia, it was decided that the cooperation will continue in order to raise the capacities, and it is considered that the signing of this Memorandum will contribute to making the mutual cooperation even more substantial, more concrete and more effective.

Text: Snežana Vla
Photos: Marijana Milanović