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President Ilves: international police co-operation is based on trust

28.04.2009

No country can achieve its inhabitants’ safety on its own; this presumes international co-operation, also between police institutions No country can achieve its inhabitants’ safety on its own; this presumes international co-operation, also between police institutions, said President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, addressing the 26th European Executive Policing Conference of the International Association of the Chiefs of Police.

“Not abstract or general co-operation, but a co-operation wisely regulated by politicians and at the same time based on the mutual trust of police institutions,” said President Ilves.

The President also gave some examples of successful co-operation between Estonian police and foreign police forces; showing that police organizations cannot be divided into old and new, as the only criterion for division is professionalism.

“All these cases prove that more than bureaucratic and over-regulated administration, it is the mutual trust that counts, as well as professionalism and often also relying on ad hoc solutions – solutions whose value has been proved and justified by decades,” President Ilves said, emphasizing especially the importance of creativity for efficient policing.

“Directives composed by international organizations cannot suffocate or obstruct the creativity and intuition of police surveillance work. This should be one of the most important messages to politicians or administrators formulating directives,” said the Estonian Head of State said.


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