The plaque of the international accreditation of the Academy was inaugurated by IADLEST

Vushtrri, 07 June 2018 – At the Kosovo Academy for Public Safety (KAPS) was held the ceremony of inauguration plaque for the International Accreditation of the Kosovo Academy for Public Safety by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) of United States of America.

The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Bejtush Gashi, Ambassador of the United States of America in the Republic of Kosovo his Excellency Mr. Greg Delawie, General Director of Kosovo Academy for Public Safety, Mr. Ismail Smakiqi, General Director of  Kosovo Probation Service and Head of KAPS Board Mr. Bajram Bujupi, Ms. Kimberley Riffe ICITAP Program Leader for Kosovo, Ms Drita Perezic Senior Advisor of ICITAP, Executive Program of Management of MIA, Ms Shpresa Muharremi National Adviser OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ritva Vähäkoski Resident Twinning Project Adviser, Colonel Taibe Canolli-Brajshori Director of the Department of Human Resources, Academy Leadership Staff, Senior  Officers of Kosovo Police and other guests.

In the opening speech of the ceremony, the General Director of the Kosovo Academy for Public Safety, Mr. Ismail Smakiqi, was pleased that the Academy today inaugurating the plaque of international accreditation by IADLEST of the United States of America.
Director Smakiqi said that this accreditation comes after the accreditation of the Professional Programs   and Institutional Accreditation of Academy by the National Qualifications Authority and this international accreditation confirms the work of the Academy, Public Safety Agencies and international partners in the field of trainings of all law enforcement in Kosovo.

"This is the first accreditation of a Safety Academy outside of the United States of America from IADLEST association, which accredit all police academies in USA and we feel privileged and proud to be the first accredited in the world outside the USA. The Academy is also the first in the region that has an international accreditation and the epithet of an Excellence Training Center for Law Enforcement", said Smakiqi, thanking all those who contributed to this process.

Director Smakiqi thanked the United States of America, the US Embassy in Kosovo, ICITAP for the generous assistance for Academy to achieve best practices and the introduction of the Academy in  "elite group dedicated  for excellence in providing training in criminal justice throughout the world "as stated in the IADLEST announcement, for international accreditation of the Academy.

Minister of Internal Affairs Bejtush Gashi highly appreciated the accreditation of the Academy by IADLEST said that this accreditation is very important for the country. Minister Gashi said that the assistance given by the United States to the state of Kosovo is very precious and very valuable.

"As a minister and as a former Dean of the Faculty of Public Safety, I am delighted with this great success. He thanked international partners; The United States of America, the European Union, the OSCE, ICITAP for their continued support in the process of state building, development and capacity building of the Kosovo Academy for Public Safety", said Minister Gashi.

On this occasion, Minister Gashi congratulated all those who contributed to this process of accreditation.

Minister Gashi assessed that obtaining the accreditation certificate from IADLIST in Boston of the United States in May this year by Director Smakiqi will serve not only as a chance to celebrate, but also for a multiplicity of ambitions and joint efforts to walk further on the path of training of public safety institutions.

While, Greg Delawie Ambassador of the United States of America in Kosovo congratulate the Academy on these achievements.

US Ambassador to Kosovo Greg Delawie estimated that holding many trainings, many activities and recent accreditation by IADLEST even more enlightens the reputation of the Academy.

On this occasion, Ambassador Delawie congratulated the Academy and the ICITAP Programming staff for Kosovo for this accomplished achievement to become the first Academy accredited by IADLEST.

"This commitment of the Government of Kosovo is essential to maintaining the trust of Kosovo citizens on all security institutions, so you have done a very good job, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the board, the other agencies being trained here, should be sure that the trainings held at the academy are according to the standards and this means that we always should review, verify and correct those standards to meet all the needs of trained law enforcement officers and communities to which they will serve", said ambassador Delawie.

In the end, gratitude was given letter of appreciation to all those who contributed to this process and was done the inauguration of the plaque for International accreditation of KAPS, which was accredited by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST).