A cooperation with German police academy will enhance the education of future police officers at RSU

A cooperation has recently been launched between Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) and the Police Academy of Lower Saxony that will bring a lot of benefits to RSU students. Some of these include shared study materials, guest lecturers in forensic science and cybercrime, and the possibility for students to gain experience in Germany that will teach them the necessary skills for international missions such as working with natural disasters. The cooperation with the Police Academy will take start taking shape in the 2019/20 academic year. The biggest beneficiaries of this cooperation will be the future senior police officers of the Latvian State Police who are enrolled in the Professional Policing study programme.

According to Aelita Zīle, a lecturer at the RSU Faculty of Law, the newly launched cooperation will open up new opportunities for students from both Latvia and Germany. RSU will thus strengthen the already successful eight-year long cooperation with the State Police College in training police officers in the joint professional Bachelor’s degree programme Professional Policing, for example by attracting competent foreign specialists and providing students with the opportunity to gain experience in Germany. RSU, in turn, can offer intellectual, material and technical knowledge to the Police Academy of Lower Saxony, for example by sharing expertise in cybersecurity or forensic issues.

The cooperation agreement between the two institutions of higher education was concluded in spring when a delegation from RSU visited Germany. The delegation shared its experience in training staff for the police service with colleagues from Austria, Norway, France, Switzerland, Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands, and in the presence of international organisations such as Aquapol, the French cross-border police centre and the Danish cross-border police centre.

International cooperation would also facilitate the establishment of a new department planned for training law enforcement officials at RSU, including the development of the planned professional Economic Security Master’s degree study programme and the development of the Internal Security Policy and Management doctoral study programme, says Professor Andrejs Vilks, Dean of the RSU Faculty of Law. 

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