Armenia – Police Reform as a Cooperative Effort : Lessons Learned from An International Advisory Mission 2014–2017

Abstract

Reform, as opposed to revolution, is an iterative process. It is also non-linear. Youmay not be getting it right the first time. At least not completely right. The authors ofthis article had the privilege and the pleasure of being invited to advise on the policereform process in the Republic of Armenia from2014 through 2017 (the introduction ofa form of ‘community policing’ had been announced in 2012 but failed to gain tractionin the interim). In close cooperation with the then OSCE Office in Yerevan (OiY) andobviously the Armenian authorities, and at times the EU and U.S. representatives, theauthors – after taking inventory of existing policies, laws, directives and regulations,and analysing them in light of internationally recognised good practice – designedand delivered instruction programs for police officers at different levels, includingleadership. In parallel, and as part of a ‘two-pronged’ approach, they contributed tostructuring and informing an enabling political (parliamentary) process, including civil society organisations, in close cooperation with the then chairman of the StandingCommittee on Defence, National Security and Internal Affairs of the National Assembly,Mr Koryun Nahapetyan, though the police force at the time was still kept close tothe presidency. The authors feel encouraged by and welcome recent steps taken bythe Pashinyan Government to reanimate the police reform process in the RA. It isunderstood that police reform necessarily is an ongoing process of reflection andimplementation on the one hand, structured by focussed phases of more intensepolitical fact-finding and operational structuring on the other. In this article the authorsshare their observations from the days of their own involvement with added insightson the later evolution of police reform and practice.