The Italian Interagency College of Advanced Studies for Law Enforcement Officials in Rome hosted the third module of the CEPOL Top Senior Police Officers Course (TOPSPOC) “The Stockholm Programme Realisation” (58/2013), from 23 to 27 September. Thirty participants from 21 different EU Member States and from Iceland, Norway and Switzerland took part at the activities. The expert lecturers came from the European Commission, the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies and the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), a non-profit organisation founded on the initiative of Altiero Spinelli, one of the “Founding Fathers of the European Union”.This TOPSPOC Course is part of a four module programme that aims to bring top senior police officers together to work at a strategic level to create a more open and secure Europe serving and protecting the citizens. In line with the outcomes of the last conference of the European Heads of the Police, the aim of the course is to create the vision of a European style of the police leadership.The main aim of the third module was to reach collective understanding and constructive discussions on the pre-given topics and further deepen the shared view and tools in use. The opportunity offered by this module was to include a general knowledge conversation on a few topics such as EU policies (particularly with regard to third countries), the implementation of the Stockholm Programme and the Corporate Social Responsibility of police authorities. The last topic was delivered by the expert from the Italian Ministry of Labour, who focused on the 2012 London Police Metropolitan Service Corporate Responsibility Report and concluded with the objective of evolving from Corporate Social Responsibility to Social Responsibility.Participants during their spare time had the possibility to visit the architectural and archaeological treasures of Rome, and a special visit to the Colosseum was organised by the Italian trainees and the CEPOL team. It was amazing for many of the foreign colleagues to compare the security measures and the control system adopted by the ancient Romans within the old stadium, and to find them so similar to the modern ones! The Director of the Italian Interagency College, major general Riccardo Amato, concluded the learning week by stressing: “this course is targeted at senior police officers having strategic, decision-making duties. I do hope that attendance will provide you with knowledge and skills that you can take back to your workplace to the benefit of yourself and your organisation and help you gain a well-deserved promotion”.The expert from Austria delivered a presentation about the contents and the organisation of the fourth and last module of the course, starting in Vienna next 2 December. The expert coaches from Belgium and Ireland brilliantly conducted the training activities, as they did on the previous two modules and as they will do for the next one.
