WB PaCT enhances international law enforcement cooperation on serious and organised crime

Strong cooperation between law enforcement and prosecutors on both national and international level is one of the prerequisites of the successful fight against serious and organised crime. To this end, the CEPOL WB PaCT project implemented a five-day long regional training course for officials from the Western Balkans.

The activity provided updated insights on the European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats (EMPACT), improved participants’ understanding of different law enforcement and judicial cooperation tools, introduced different methods of investigating serious and organised crime, while also enabled the creation of professional networks with the aim to enhance future cooperation.

As training participant Gjergji Ceka, prosecutor from Albania assessed his experience:

“This training was a great opportunity to obtain a better understanding about measures many jurisdictions utilise to combat organised and serious crime. Acquiring such information will help me conduct more effective investigations when prosecuting these types of crime.”

While Mišel Puljević, police officer from Bosnia and Herzegovina emphasised the networking aspect of this WB PaCT training:

“This course covered the domain of my workplace, therefore my participation surely improved my professional knowledge. It was also a great opportunity for widening my professional network and meet officials who often face similar challenges during their work as I do.”

In total, 31 representatives from the Western Balkans joined the event to share experience, good practices and expertise, with experts from Europol, Eurojust, Croatia, Serbia and CEPOL supporting the workshop. The activity took place from 24 to 28 April in The Hague, The Netherlands.

About WB PaCT

The Partnership against Crime and Terrorism project in the Western Balkans (WB PaCT) aims at enhancing the capacities of the authorities in the Western Balkans to fight organised crime and terrorism including preventing and countering violent extremism by enhancing cooperation within the region and with the EU. For more information, please visit the project page.