CEPOL’s course 23/2015 “Investigating and preventing corruption” took place from 1 to 5 June in Bratislava, Slovakia. Participants from 24 EU Member States and Turkey attended the course. The aim of the activity was to improve law enforcement officers’ professional skills to fight corruption.
Speeches by the Rector of the Academy of the Police Force in Bratislava
and the Director of the Presidium of the Police Force’s National Crime Agency of Slovakia opened the course. Participants attended a presentation from Fair-play Alliance, an initiative to tackle corruption in Slovakia. Furthermore, OLAF’s Central Contact Point in Slovakia presented the office’s competences and ideas on prevention of corruption as well as national and international projects in this field.
Topics covered during the course also included a general overview and a case study on corruption in Slovakia, best practices by the Central Anticorruption Bureau of Poland, lobbying in Slovenia and investigative techniques on corruption.
At the course it was stressed that establishing a network for international police cooperation is key to reach positive outcomes in the fight against corruption. Participants highlighted at the online evaluation of the course the need of meetings at international level to discuss this cross-border issue. As stated by one of the students: “the topics addressed in the course were relevant and it would be great if we could meet often to share our expertise in this matter”.
