On 2-7 December, the PDD facilitated a study visit to Croatia and Serbia on “Decentralized Training Systems”. The overall aim of this visit was to support the MoIA in their efforts to strengthen training capacities and to provide the participants with an opportunity to get acquainted with the Serbian and Croatian decentralized training structure, to exchange experience and know-how with their counterparts on issues related to the evolution of the decentralized in-service training, the various problems and challenges faced and the types of training being organized and delivered at the decentralized level. Community Policing The PDD’s Police Affairs Division’s plan of activities in 2012 set out to support the MoIA in strengthening the prevention structure within the MoIA. It also aimed to further promote and develop community policing practices at a decentralized level in an effort to continuously improve police-public relations and build on the successes of previous years’ work in the field of community policing. The activities undertaken in this sphere were carried out with the overarching aim of a complete handover of sustainable community policing tools, methods and practices to local authorities and a withdrawal of the Mission from Community Policing by 2015. The PDD’s co-located Police Advisers continued to utilize their close contacts and professional working relationships in the field to forge and enhance further links with different local communities. Using these links in the field, one of the main added values of the colocated staff remained quick and precise monitoring of the security situation country-wide, in close co-operation with the Mission’s Monitoring Unit. The PDD continued to support activities to strengthen the capacity of the Local Prevention Councils (LPCs) and Citizen’s Advisory Groups (CAGs) which had been established in recent years on a country-wide basis with the assistance of the PDD. 25 The PDD’s fielddeployed Police Affairs (PA) Teams (each consisting of a Police Adviser and a Language Assistant) continued to monitor the functioning of the CAGs and LPCs and provided advice when required. These forums are seen as an essential tool for the local police in forging relationships with citizens and in addressing problems at both the municipal and the neighbourhood level. In July, the PDD facilitated the organization of the first ever LPC meeting in Gostivar. The meeting marked an end to long-standing communication and co-operation barriers which existed between the police and the Municipality of Gostivar. At the end of the year, Debar was the only remaining municipality in the country without an established LPC. In 2012, the CAGs and LPCs were vital in communicating messages regarding local issues, such as tensions after several high-profile inter-ethnic incidents; the prevention of youth and interethnic violence; local crime problems; as well as the co-ordination of a School Safety project. They were especially important in tackling the problem of juvenile violence in communities. The handover to local actors of these prevention mechanisms advanced successfully in 2011/2012. At the end of 2012, 83 LPCs and over 150 CAGs were locally managed. The general work of the PDD’s detached Police Advisers also aimed at assisting and supporting the local police in promoting project ideas and activities with the aim of confidence-building within multi-ethnic communities. During the year, numerous initiatives were run by the local police and supported by the PDD’s PA Teams. Support from the PA Teams included POP training for Police Officers on designing projects that would lead to 25 98 CAGs have been established since 2002, bringing together police, citizens and other relevant stakeholders at a local level in order to discuss and find solutions to local problems. LPCs are chaired by the mayors of the respective municipalities, and Police Station Commanders have a special advisory role to the mayors. Representatives of governmental institutions, parliament members, academics, media and NGOs are also members of these councils. The list of the LPC members is flexible and is created according to the local needs and characteristics.