AKIPRESS.COM - The regional session of the Public Council of the Interior Ministry to uphold civilian oversight of the police reform that took place in the town of Jalal-Abad on October 28 for some 160 participants, including members of the Kyrgyz Parliament, representatives of the Interior Ministry, local police, authorities as well as civil society and mass media.

The regional session aimed to monitor the implementation of the government decrees in Jalal-Abad region on the new criteria to evaluate police performance. This includes public opinion surveys as an external assessment, as well as mechanisms of interaction between police and civil society.

The above mentioned decrees were developed with the expert support of the OSCE Center in Bishkek, and approved and adopted by the Kyrgyz government in 2015 as part of the police reform measures. These provisions create a legal basis for mutual coordination of actions of police and civil society, in order to ensure public safety and crime prevention.

"The next step in strengthening civilian control is to ensure that the Interior Ministry Public Council develops and implements management and administrative decisions based on the results of public opinion surveys of the police work or the external evaluation,” said Pavel Khalashnyuk, Head of Police Affairs at the OSCE Center in Bishkek. “The Center is ready to provide necessary assistance in this regard.”

Yalkun Dautov, Chairperson of the Interior Ministry Public Council stressed that the Council takes its task to implement the principles of civilian oversight over police activities and police reform seriously. “The Police Council is ready to enhance its role in the future work related to the external evaluation and joint planning of public safety matters by police, local authorities and civil society,” Dautov said.

During the event, 10 sets of computer equipment were handed over to the police departments of Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken regions to counter religious extremism and terrorism in the framework of the OSCE’s Combating Organized Crime Project.