Decision making bodies
One of the AEPC guiding principles is the organization as a flexible network by establishing as few rules as possible. In order to keep things going, there exists a distinction into two main characters of meetings:
Governing Board
The AEPC Governing Board meets once a year. It is the decisional body of the Association. All members of the Association are members of the Governing Board and are invited. The Governing Board is coupled with the Annual Heads of Training Conference, involving the same participants.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee meets two times a year. About 15 people attend the committee meetings. Members of the Executive Committee care for the smooth running of the Association, prepare the activities ahead and evaluate the past activities.
According to the historical development, the Executive Committee is composed by the President, the Vice Presidents and the members from the colleges of Austria, Georgia, Germany, France, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Romania and the Netherlands. Besides, it became usual that representatives of the colleges hosting the recent past and the upcoming events participate. However, the Executive Committee is not an exclusive event. Every AEPC member college who is willing to participate is invited.
Activities
Flexibility, simplicity and a minimum of bureaucracy are inherent to the structure of the AEPC. The Governing Board empowers member colleges to work either individually or in collaboration with others to deliver activities promptly and expeditiously.
Since the Association has been founded at the beginning of 1996, there had been developed and executed a number of activities. These include:
- An annual calendar of national training courses available to police officers from European countries
- Conferences of experts and similar events on specific policing issues
- Language courses
- Mutual information seminars on the structure and organisation of the various police services in Europe
- The involvement of experts if appropriate
- Providing a central information point on police training matters
- Offering assistance to the EU working group for police cooperation (till 1January 2001)
- A report comparising an inventory of the bilateral, non operational assistance from the EU member states to the candidate member states in Eastern and Middle Europe
- An extensive training programme for the candidate member states in order to assist them in meeting the EU acquis in order to achieve EU membership (the “Enfopol 118” project)
- A training programme within the framework of the Stability Pact for South Eastern European countries
- A training programme for high police officers and members of the judiciary from five Western Balkan Countries under the EU CARDS programme in co-operation with CEPOL
Methods
The AEPC
- coordinates action and joint activities
- organises joint conferences and related activities
- Provides a focal point for the gathering and dissemination of information
- Provides a secretariat for the annual meeting of the Heads of European Police Colleges
- Monitors action on decisions reached at such meetings
- Provides a point of contact for European police training issues.
Each of these activities should be beneficial to all European police forces, including those of non EU countries.