OSCE Presence completes training for Albanian border and migration police

TIRANA, 31 March 2006 - Over 100 members of the Albanian border and migration police from eleven cities have completed an OSCE-supported training course on the use of border surveillance equipment.

The two-month training course, supported by the OSCE Presence in Albania, was conducted in Shkodra, Kukes and Tirana, and implemented in partnership with the Training assistance programme of the OSCE Mission to Georgia.

Instructors offered classes on map reading, observation techniques, orienteering, thermal imaging equipment and night vision equipment providing the necessary skills for border police officers to carry out their duties efficiently.

"The training was an essential element to complement the transfer of sophisticated surveillance equipment to the border and migration police by both the OSCE and the European Commission," said Jack Bell, the Head of the Security Co-operation Department in the Presence.

Some of the officers who completed the course, after additional training in Tirana, will now be able to teach their colleagues in other parts of the country.

The OSCE Presence is shortly to donate new border surveillance devices to the border and migration police.