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Encouraging effective partnerships between the police and the media is the aim of a two-day workshop that started in Tsakhkadzor, Armenia today. The two-day event is co-organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan and the Armenian police.

Some 30 media representatives and 20 police officers will discuss media coverage of sensitive areas, such as pre-trial investigation of criminal cases, cases involving juveniles and drug trafficking.

“Effective co-operation between the police and the media is essential for society to be better informed about police activities and the overall security situation in the country, which in turn can help police fight crime,” said Ambassador Andrey Sorokin, Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

Dusko Zavisic, an expert from the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, will participate in a workshop to share his experience of police-media co-operation with Armenian counterparts.

Lieutenant-General Vladimir Gasparyan, the Head of the Armenian Police, welcomed the initiative: “Enhancing co-operation with the media is in line with our efforts to raise the transparency of police work. Journalists should be well informed about the specifics of police activities in order to provide objective and correct information to people.”

“The goal of today’s event is also to discuss the problems and general concerns with finding common solutions.”

The OSCE Office in Yerevan has been implementing a number of activities to promote better police-media co-operation since 2009. This includes roundtable discussions between police officers and media representatives in Armenian regions, the production of a guidebook for the police on how to deal with the media, training for police officers involved in press and public affairs and the modernization of the police website to provide up-to-date information to the public, OSCE said in a news release.