KFOR Commander, General Erhard Bühler, visited Kosovo Centre for Public Safety, Education and Development

Vushtrri, March, 31, 2011 - KFOR Commander, General Erhard Buhler, visited the Centre for Public Safety, Education and Development (KCPSED). This was the first meeting of a KFOR commanding General with staff and students of this institution. For General Buhler this was an important event in the context of the NATO and KFOR policy to successfully hand over to Kosovo Police (KP) the responsibilities for security and public order. 
General Buhler is welcome by the chief executive of the Centre, General Sheremet Ahmeti and his staff. At a meeting in four eyes with the chief executive, in an information session organized by the staff, lecturers and instructors of the institution, and also during talks with the police trainees, KFOR Commander is informed about the duties of this safety institution, its organization and various training systems   KCPSED is an executive agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring professional standards based on given powers for education and training for members of the public safety agencies. They are the Kosovo Police, Correctional Service of Kosovo, Kosovo Customs and Agency for Management of Emergency situations. Modern education of members of these public safety agencies in the context of the rule of law is a prerequisite for development and creation of a modern democracy and for sustainable security in Kosovo. Formation of security personnel follows the lines of internationally accepted standards. Every year about 13,000 students attend courses or lectures in this school. It is divided into four Departments: Program Support, Logistics and Administration, Police Trainings, Planning and Relations with Public.
    General Buhler was impressed with the standards and performance of the Centre in general and with police training in particular. He stressed that KFOR is still strong with this new structure of NATO peacekeeping force, the efficiency, flexibility and mobility of its units is increased. International soldiers under his command are extremely professional and dedicated to providing a quiet and safe environment everywhere in Kosovo. Although the overall security situation in Kosovo is calm and stable, KFOR is ready to take action against threats whenever and wherever is needed. However, in the medium and long term KP should take more responsibilities from KFOR to provide security and public order if necessary. For example, it is very important that the KP will guard the cultural heritage sites among them several monasteries or to guard more border zones by the Border Police units. Some of these tasks have already been taken over by the KP and the results are very good and promising.
KFOR commander has qualified the performance and professionalism of KP officers as excellent. Moreover, he is impressed by reports on the capacity of KP special units for crowd and riots control, which has conducted an exercise with the Italian carabineers of KFOR MSU battalion. General Buhler has summarized his assessment of KP: "All these examples of professional work of KP are a very promising development and support my impression that this police force plays a key role to protect the citizens of Kosovo and along KFOR provide a framework of security and stability for economic and political development of Kosovo. Centre for Public Safety is the main pillar for the excellent performance of the KP. "

    General Ahmeti thanked the KFOR commander for his visit and for KFOR support to the security institutions in Kosovo, especially to the police. He stressed that: "Cooperation with KFOR is essential to improve security in Kosovo and also KCPSED is ready to conduct additional training in areas of new competencies, which are being transferred from KFOR to Kosovo Police.”