Embassy of the United States

Offices and Departments

Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) 

The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) assists the Government of Georgia (GOG) to improve the professionalism and operational capacity of Georgian Law Enforcement. Initiated in 1999, INL, Georgia has implemented various projects and held trainings locally and overseas. INL funds a number of implementers, including, among others, the Resident Legal Adviser (RLA-Department of Justice), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the ABA-CEELI program of the American Bar Association, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Budapest, Hungary. The Freedom Support Act (FSA), through INL, continues to fund the Law Enforcement Section (LES) at Embassy Tbilisi.

INL Law Enforcement Training

Police Tactics: The INL Program brought instructors from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) to conduct tactics training May 11-22, 2009.   Ten officers from the Georgian Patrol Police, who will serve as future tactics instructors participated in the training and were taught a wide range of tactical techniques and concepts.  These officers will now be able to teach other patrol police in these areas at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Police Academy and other locations, which will form a solid foundation of tactical skills for the Patrol Police.  These GPP officers will be able to instruct other officers in critical and fundamental police topics such as the defense of themselves and their weapons, the appropriate use of force, improved firearms skills, and the most effective ways to approach and enter buildings and vehicles in the most dangerous situations.  These are skills and abilities that are crucial to the continuing improvement of an evolving national police force in the Republic of Georgia and which can ultimately save the lives of police officers and citizens. 

Arson: INL sponsored ATF training in “Arson Investigation Techniques” in Tbilisi June 8-19, 2009 for Georgian and Armenian law enforcement personnel.  This 2-week course covered various subjects including the host country’s arson laws and fire history, fire dynamics, origin and cause determination, evidence collection and preservation, report writing, fatal fire investigation, and electrical aspects of fire investigations.  In this course, class participants were also provided hands training which included demonstrations of flashover cells and burn sites.  As part of the practical training, the instructors ignited small mock furnished apartments and after they had burned down, the course participants had to recover and analyze debris from the fire scene to determine the cause and origin of the fire.  These skills will allow Georgian and Armenian law enforcement to more effectively investigate and prosecute cases of arson and ultimately improve public safety.  Participants represented the following Georgian Government agencies:

Current and future Fire Experts from the National Forensics Bureau

Tbilisi City Hall, Emergency Situations (Fire Department)

Criminal Police, Ministry of Internal affairs

Experts from the following Armenian Government agencies participated in the training:

Laboratory Experts from the National Bureau of Expertise

Fire Inspectors from the Fire Inspectorate Service

Federal Police Investigators. 

 

INL Projects:

Police Academy Building

On June 12, 2009, Ambassador Tefft and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Eka Zguladze cut a ribbon to celebrate the opening of the new classroom/dormitory building of the MOIA Police Academy.  The dormitory space of the new building will allow police officers from all over Georgia to participate in training opportunities at the academy.   INL funded the construction of the building as well as a new gym to encourage the physical readiness of police officers.

• Patrol Police Communications Program

INL has been working to build the automated systems of the police since a pilot project was launched in June 2006.  At this time, the Patrol Police Communications Program successfully came on line with the introduction of a modern server, motor vehicle registration database, and fifteen mobile terminals in patrol vehicles. For the first time police officers had real time access in the field to data. Now in 2009 as part of phase II, additional on-board computers were installed in the patrol cars (approximately 30 patrol vehicles were equipped with the on-board computers) and the Administrative violations information system (AVIS), driver’s license database, wanted person database, criminal history database have all been integrated into the patrol police communications and automation system. The system will be to provide law enforcement officers with access countrywide – 170 on-board computers will be installed in patrol cars; 200 fixed computer terminals will be provided for regional access. Hundreds of additional users will receive training to operate the system. The goal of the project is to create an automated criminal database system, minimizing time required by law enforcement to access vital information, especially in the field.

 

• TETRA Communications System

In 2006, INL completed the first phase of a communications upgrade project for the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOIA). The project involved the installation of five TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) land mobile radio base stations covering the city of Tbilisi and surrounding area, as well as multiple handheld, desktop and vehicle mounted subscriber radios. Before the project started, the MOIA was totally dependent on analog, non-secure, non-interoperable radio communications. The implementation of the Phase II started in the summer of 2007 – which aims to create the integrated system and allow expansion throughout the entire country. INL will expand the TETRA project with additional base stations to connect East and West Georgia - offering a national emergency communications network. Interconnectivity of all base stations and the associated training will create a viable emergency communications system that will vastly improve law enforcement’s communications capability.

 

• Forensic Development Project

INL continues extensive assistance to the development of forensic expertise in Georgia. INL has completed renovation of the National Forensic Bureau, an official handover of the building is scheduled in early fall.  In addition to the new building, a train and equip program includes firearms and fingerprints section, DNA laboratory, toxicology- breath alcohol testing program, questioned document program, Arson section development. INL continues funding the forensic coordinator program which provides technical assistance in the implementation of internationally accepted forensic examination techniques – developing a policy and procedure manual, quality control system within the laboratory, and evidence handling procedures. With the introduction of the new criminal procedure code (CPC) in the Georgian legislature, forensic development assistance will be critical for the successful prosecution of crime under the new legal system.