Sometimes you get a different challenge in your old professional environment. That’s the case for new EUPOL Mission member Wolfgang Nikolaus from the German contingent. He just arrived at EUPOL and is going through the introduction procedures. Afghanistan and the international policing efforts in this devolving country are not new to the 56 year old German police officer, as he was part of the German Police Project Team for the last 7 month as a Training Adviser at the Police Academy.
This of course prepared him in an excellent way for his new challenging job up north in Kunduz province as a Mentor/Advisor for Intelligence-led Policing. “I really wanted to work for EUPOL and with the new job I can put all my Afghan experiences, as well as my professional background from Germany to good use.” Wolfgang stated shortly before getting on his flight up north.

EUPOL concluded Mobile Support Unit (MSU) training course for Afghan police in Kabul. The training was delivered to 22 ANP officers from five police districts, including Saroubi District. The topics taught at the course were Introduction to terrorism, Command and Control, intelligence, Critical Incident Basics, Critical Incidents Management, Checkpoint Training, Community Policing, District-Based Policing, Ethics and Code of Conduct.
EUPOL mentors for Kabul City Police Thomas Thomassen, Rafael Navea and Eric Sennersten facilitated the one week course. At the end of the course the participants received certificates of appreciation.

EUPOL concluded the 8th cycle of the Field Training and Education Officer Course (FTEOC) for the Afghan National Police. The training was delivered to 44 national police officers from different training departments of the ANP in the capital and the provinces. The participants were taught pedagogic and management skills by Jurgen Kartmann, Andre Wuillot, Markus Pink, Mark Hustins and Jurgen Graf. After the training the participants will be able to train their colleagues

EUPOL commenced 119 Call Center training for the ANP at the Afghan Ministry of Interior. The training will be delivered to different groups of the ANP working at the 119 call centre. The course began in early February.
The first group of six ANP officers already completed the four-day training.
The topics taught at the course were SOP and Job Description, Exercises on Call Taking, Fire Issues and Mine Awareness. Henrik Andersen (right) and Juhani Stick from the Training Section of EUPOL were the trainers of the course.

EUPOL Uniform Police Mentors, responsible also for monitoring the actions of Ministry of Interior Security Forces, organised a project to re-construct a better and safer entrance for the Ministry of Interior.
The Uniform Police Mentors discovered that the pedestrian entrance for the ministry did not meet any safety standards. Both the entrances, one for women and another for men, were run-down and did not even have proper doors or windows.
EUPOL Uniform Police decided to set a project to rebuild the entrance and succeeded in securing funding for it. The local contractor was able to complete the work in a month. Now the Entry Office is one of the best buildings of the ministry. The revolving doors, barriers and gates improve the security of the building significantly.

EUPOL Afghanistan and the GPPT donated photocopy machines and digital cameras to the Immigration Section at the Afghan Border Police. There was a great need for these items as they are required when preparing high quality evidence for the state prosecutor and the court. The photographic evidence is useful for preparing internal files and presenting cases to the prosecutor.
The immigration section can also take copies of false passports, visas, flight tickets and other documents to present them as evidence to the court of law. Now equipped with digital cameras the police officers can make pictures of victims, witnesses and suspects. Images of clothes and other belongings are also central to the identification process, as are images of tattoos, scars, birth-marks and other distinctive features.

The Deputy Head of Mission, Karin Mueller, and Head of Project Management, Satu Elo, visited the New Zealand PRT in the province of Bamyan. The visit took place in the first week in February.
During the three-day visit, DHoM and HoPM met the PRT Commander, Deputy Chief of Police, Chief Prosecutor, Chief Justice and the Director of the Ministry of Justice. They also met Ms. Habiba Sarabi, the only female Governor in Afghanistan. The EUPOL Bamyan team had also organised a meeting with UNAMA and other internationals working in the province.
The EUPOL Bamyan Team currently consists of a Finnish lawyer, three New Zealanders and Danish police officers. They are supported by three local language assistants.

A EUPOL delegation comprising the Deputy Head of Mission, Karin Mueller, Rule of Law Training Adviser, Cornelia Schneider, and Criminal Investigations Division Adviser, Jani Ortamala visited the Mission team in Herat.
The purpose of the visit was to meet the EUPOL regional and provincial teams, to discuss the way forward and give direction for the implementation of EUPOL objectives. The delegation also wanted to meet Afghan partners in the police and the justice sector. The third purpose of the visit was to gather information on the role of different EUPOL projects, such as the basic police-prosecutor training program, the military justice project and the criminal investigation capabilities program.
EUPOL Senior Adviser Paolo Colombani and his team welcomed the visitors warmly. One of the highlights of the visit was the meeting with Maria Bashir, the only female Chief Prosecutor in Afghanistan.

EUPOL Helps to Improve Kabul Airport Security EUPOL Afghanistan, the GPPT and a local contractor Asman Abi have built a new wall at Kabul International airport to separate the secure and non-secure areas.
Previously there was not a sufficient wall separating the secure area in Terminal one. Thus passengers were able to receive items from the non-secure areas even after they had been through the security checks. Due to the new wall this is no longer possible.

Two German Ministers of Interior visited Afghanistan in the second week of February.
During their visit Uwe Schünemann from Lower Saxony and Lorenz Caffier from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern met representatives of EUPOL Afghanistan and the German Police Project Team. The aim of the ministerial visit was to gain information on the missions.
Acting Head of Mentors, Nigel Hughes, presented an overview of the EUPOL Mission and the Head of the GPPT, Dr. Markus Ritter, presented an overview of the actual state of play. Both ministers were convinced of the progress being made. They expressed their impressions to the media and highlighted the encouraged work in a difficult environment and the challenges taken by all the mission members.
Together with Antje Pittelkau, the EUPOL mentor to the Afghan Minister of Interior, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, the two ministers visited their Afghan counterpart.
The German media covered the visit positively as it came together with an announcement from the German Federal Minister of Interior, Thomas de Maizière, that the number of German police officers being sent to Afghanistan will increase significantly in the near future.
H.E. John Deady, Ambassador of Ireland to Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan visited EUPOL during his visit to Kabul. Mr. Deady, Isolde Moylan, Director for Asia Affairs, Department of Foreign Affairs and Mr. David Donoghue, Political Director, Department of Foreign Affairs were interested in exploring the possibility of directly contributing to the police and rule of law sectors in Afghanistan through the secondment of personnel to the Mission. A detailed briefing was given by Nigel Hughes, Johanna Valenius and Sean Kerins on the various aspects of the Mission’s work. The delegation appear confident that a contribution will be forthcoming.

Twenty Heads of Delegations of the EU Member States, Norway and Canada were briefed on the latest achievements of EUPOL Afghanistan at EUPOL Headquarters on the 4th of February.
The Head of Mission, Kai Vittrup, welcomed the delegates to the event. His welcoming words were followed by brief progress reports from the Anti Corruption Team, Human Rights and Gender Unit, Anti Crime, Training Unit, the City Police Projects and the ANP Benchmarking project. The meeting was closed with a brief note on relevant strategic issues.
Anti-Corruption Officer, Pekka Kokkonen, presented the work of EUPOL Anti-Corruption Team. The team fights corruption by training police officers and enforcing these skills. One of the major efforts has been the establishment of the Mobile Anti Corruption Teams, the use of which has increased the numbers of reported cases of corruption.
“We focus on petty corruption at the street level. Our work has had a huge impact, not only on the numbers of reported cases, but also on how people perceive the police.”
The Norwegian RoL Senior Implementation Officer, Astri Holm, introduced the MoI Department of Gender and Human Rights that was established last year. The department monitors the actions of the ANP and develops gender and human rights policies for the MoI and the police. Currently, one of its main projects is to support Afghan police to recruit more women into the police force.
The Anti Crime Department has mentored and trained specialist surveillance teams. The Chief of CID, Kenneth Isaac, presented how the teams were trained to work, live and operate in various environments and gather evidence. The training has also included a test drugs operation at a building site.
The EUPOL Police Training Department is developing a coherent national education system for policing. Among the most recent training courses are the Field training and education officer (FTEO-C), 119 Call Centre Course, Rule of Law TTT and a course on Political and Diplomatic issues. The second module of Police Prosecutor training, organised in cooperation with the Crisis Management Centre Finland, took place in Finland during the second week of February. The Deputy Head of Training, Angelique Van Oyen, said that in the future EUPOL will try to develop a coherent national system of police education. It will be implemented by ANP and monitored by EUPOL training advisers.
Chief of Uniform Police, Andrew Mellor, (above) introduced the Mission City Police Projects. The projects are on-going in Kabul and six key provincial capitals, namely Herat, Kandahar, Mazar-e-Sharif, Meymaneh, Tarin Kowt and Lashkar Gah.
Mellor stated that the keys to the successful implementation are Afghan ownership, security, resources and commitment of international partners. Roberto Arcieri, The Head of SPAR, said that EUPOL started benchmarking the ANP’s work in Kabul last December. The assessment will be expanded to all the regional and provincial teams.
In the opening ceremony, General Halim, the President of the Military Appellate Court and Afghanistan’s highest ranking Military Judge, said he appreciates EUPOL’s leading role in supporting the Afghan Military Justice Sector.
The Fair Trial Training is co-funded by GTZ and implemented by the Max- Planck-Institute for International Law. The training is organized by Gregor Kemper, EUPOL’s Military Justice Project Leader.

EUPOL started Fair Trial Training for military judges and prosecutors who are responsible for handling police corruption cases in Kabul on the 24th of January. During the course more than 60 military judges and prosecutors from Kabul and the regions are being trained in the premises of the Military Court of Appeal in Kabul.
The two week course aims to teach basic legal standards. The training also intends to improve cooperation between judges and prosecutors involved in the same type of cases.
In the opening ceremony, General Halim, the President of the Military Appellate Court and Afghanistan’s highest ranking Military Judge, said he appreciates EUPOL’s leading role in supporting the Afghan Military Justice Sector.
The Fair Trial Training is co-funded by GTZ and implemented by the Max- Planck-Institute for International Law. The training is organized by Gregor Kemper, EUPOL’s Military Justice Project Leader.

EUPOL delivered Traffic Regulations Training to the Kabul City Police officers. The five-day course was conducted at the Kabul City Police HQ.
The course covered Traffic Regulations, Rules and Legal Basis, Accidents and Traffic Investigation, Checkpoint Training, Anti Bribery and Anti Corruption and Traffic Safety. EUPOL mentors Thomas Thomassen and David Libianchi were the trainers of the course.
The training was attended by 26 police officers having different ranks from sergeants to colonels.
“The colonels had lots of experience of the traffic regulations and the sergeants were very keen to learn from the experiences of the senior officers” EUPOL mentor Thomas Thomassen said.
At the end of the course the participants received certificates of completion of the training.

EUPOL concluded a Communication, Command, Control and Intelligence Course for the Afghan National Police. The training was delivered to 19 participants from four different police districts in Kabul. EUPOL mentors Jani Harden and Jesus Arias facilitated the six-day course.
The course included different topics like District Based Policing Model, Command and Control, Police Leadership Principles, Introduction to Incident Reporting, Orders and Actions, Controlling the Scene of a Critical Incident and other topics regarding Intelligence and Reporting, Analysis and Storage of Intelligence.
At the end of the course the participants received certificates of appreciation for their successful attendance in the course. “The participants were very motivated to learn new skills taught at the training” EUPOL mentor Jani Harden said.

EUPOL Team in Herat assisted the ANP in the region to create new classrooms and offices. The newly refurbished classrooms inside the ANP Regional Centre Herat were ready for use in late January. The official inauguration attended by the ANP leaders of the region was held on January 27.
The new rooms were created by building new walls to divide an oversized space. The Italian PRT contributed, via their Civilian Military Cooperation (CIMIC) section, the cost of drywall dividers, painting and electric installation, as promoted by EUPOL Team in Herat, the leading body in developing the local ANP regional Training Centre. The furniture was funded by EUPOL HQ.
The Herat Regional Centre now has an additional three classrooms and two associated offices ready for use for future EUPOL and ANP training projects.

During the last six months EUPOL, UNDP and CSTC-A have established six mobile Anti-Corruption Teams (ACT). These teams, which operate under the authority of the Inspector General within the MoI, are an essential part of the Anti-Corruption Implementation Programme. Each mobile ACT consists of one Team Leader and six Inspectors. EUPOL provided the ACT with an office building near the MOI compound to be used as their main operational base. EUPOL also donated special investigation equipment and vehicles for the ACT undercover operations. Over the past few months, the mobile ACT members have had to pass a rather rigorous training programme, including basic inspectors training and basic detective and investigation training organised by EUPOL. Finally, the ACT members received special surveillance training and were carefully guided in their first Anti-Corruption Operations leading to the arrest of 24 Police Officers for taking bribes at checkpoints and public markets.
After the first series of successful Anti-Corruption operations in Kabul, Minister H. Atmar instructed the Inspector General to deploy the ACT to all Districts and Provinces of Afghanistan. EUPOL and CSTC-A are supporting these plans by carrying out a series of field assessment trips to ensure that the deployed ACT receive the required support from the provincial Inspector General staff.
ACT training will continue in the future in parallel to ongoing operations. One planned training will focus on modern financial investigation techniques in order to enable them to follow the flow of money in suspected corruption cases. These activities, combined with the introduction of a new digital filing and case tracking system, will provide the MoI with a new and powerful tool to counter corruption within the ANP.

On 21st January EUPOL concluded the second Basic Crime Investigation Course for CID officers of the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoI). The training was delivered to 120 participants. 78 Afghan police officers took part in the course in December 2009 and 42 in January 2010.
The main subjects of the training delivered to the ANP officers in the past two months have been the Initial Action and Crime Scene Investigation, Forensic Awareness, Planning and Decision Making, Criminal Code Procedures in Afghanistan, Intelligence Gathering, Report Writing, Witness Statements and interview techniques. EUPOL provided the equipment needed for the future work of the newly trained officers such as Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) kits, laptops, printers and cameras worth 33.000 Euros. The Criminal Investigation Courses will be enhanced by further mentoring and advanced trainings on how to use the CSI kits, cameras as well as video cameras at crime scenes. In 2010 EUPOL will also organise similar courses at the provincial level. The event in the presence of the MoI’s General Head of CID, General Jamil Junbish, and was widely covered by Afghan media outlets.

The first meeting of the International Police Coordination Board (IPCB) in 2010 took place at the EUPOL HQ on 12 January. Under the leadership of Afghanistan’s Minister of Interior, Hanif Atmar, Ambassadors from International Donor Countries together with representatives of the international forces and EUPOL discussed a draft of the Afghan National Police Strategy (ANPS) for the next five years as well as the National Police Plan for 2010. The purpose of the ANPS is to provide strategic guidance for the continued development and operational capability of the MoI to meet the current and future challenges of stabilization and security of Afghanistan, explained Minister Atmar. He introduced seven strategic priorities based on the current assessment of the threat and national security requirements and the future structure of the Afghan National Police (six pillars). The Minister asked EUPOL to take the lead role among international advisers in supporting the MoI to reform the Anti-Crime Police pillar, including CID and for the Afghan Civilian Police pillar.
The MoI’s priorities for the period 2010-2015 are:
1. Gain the confidence of the public. 2. Protect the Afghan National Interests. 3. Eliminate corruption. 4. Improve police capabilities including leadership, command, control and communication, training, equipment and weapons to counter the specific threats in Afghanistan. 5. Reform and grow the Afghan National Police Tashkil to improve quality and quantity of the service provided by the police. 6. Improve morale and quality of life for police personnel. 7. Implement Intelligence Led Policing
There are five categories of police. Combined with the enabling capabilities of the MoI, there are six pillars of reform and growth for the police: 1. Afghan Civilian Police (ACP) 2. Afghan Gendarmerie (ANCOP-AG) 3. Afghan Border Police (ABP) 4. Afghan Anti-Crime Police (AACP) 5. Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF) 6. Enabling Forces (medical, logistical, administrative, recruitment, training and education, and headquarters)

EUPOL mentors for the Kabul City Police provided a management course for Deputy Commanders and senior officers of four Kabul police districts including Eastern Soroubi district. EUPOL mentors Fernando Trallero and Uwe Feweier taught management skills to the participants. After one week of training the successful participants received certificates.

EUPOL’s Training Section conducted the 7th Field Training and Education Officer Course (FTEOC) for ANP officers from the Ministry of Interior and the Afghan Border Police. 17 participants took part in the training organised by EUPOL trainers Juergen Graf, Mats Bohman and Henrik Andersen who taught the participants management skills as well as different pedagogical techniques. After one month of training they received certificates of appreciation handed over by Gen. Gul Nabi Ahmadzai, General Head of Training and Education Department at the MoI.

The EUPOL Criminal Investigation Department (CID) concluded its first course for MoI CID officers. For two weeks in December, 78 participants learnt about Initial Action and Crime Scene Investigation, Forensic Awareness, Planning and Decision Making, Criminal Code Procedures in Afghanistan, Intelligence Gathering, Report Writing and Witness Statements as well as interview techniques.
At the closing ceremony, Gen. Abdul Manan Farahi, Chief of the Counter Terrorism Department, thanked EUPOL for its support and assistance to the ANP while the participants received certificates of appreciation for their successful attendance.
“One of the key objectives of the EUPOL Mission in Afghanistan is to enhance the ANP investigative capabilities and advice the Criminal Investigation Department. These are the strategic aims of the mission,” says Robby Zocher, EUPOL CID Mentor.