A Royal Gibraltar Police officer has recently returned from representing the force at the annual Young Police Officers’ Seminar in Vienna, Austria.

Organised by the Austrian section of the International Police Association, the event is designed to promote networking, share expertise and make officers aware of training opportunities at other police forces.

A total of 39 police officers from forces across the world attended the five-day event, including officers from as far away as Australia and Canada.

Among them was Detective Constable Dave Chambers, 32, who works in the RGP’s Domestic Abuse Team.

Describing the experience as “intense,” Dave said the week involved physical training, lectures and demonstrations by several specialised departments.

He said: “The networking opportunities are very useful, as it allows you to speak to other officers to see how they deal with common policing issues in their forces. I’m in quite a specialised department, so it was good to compare how our domestic abuse policies work against those in other jurisdictions.

“What was interesting was that even though we haven’t consulted with Vienna or the way they deal with domestic abuse, their officers deal with it in a very similar way to how we do in Gibraltar, especially in areas which are currently being introduced on the Rock.”

Dave explained that the event is also designed to show younger officers what training is available through the International Police Association.

He continued: “There are specialised courses that you can attend, which are not widely publicised. So the whole point in this seminar is to show younger officers what is available, so they can bring this knowledge back to their police forces and encourage them to take part in training through their local IPA branch. The amount of courses available are incredible – particularly for a place like Gibraltar, where training in specialised departments is not as easily accessible.” 

Paid for by the International Police Association Gibraltar Branch, to which RGP officers pay a monthly subscription, the event was hosted in English at a hotel and at the Vienna Police Headquarters.

Dave, who has been in the RGP for nine years, added: “The highlight was spending time with Eko Cobra. They are the Counter Terror Unit of the Austrian Ministry of the Interior – they are not under the command of the Austrian Police. They have stations across Austria as it is a requirement for them to be anywhere in the country in under 70 minutes. The kit and the training those guys have is insane and the level of fitness required to even join them is amazing. We were given a short class in Cobra’s Close Protection training, doing basic movements as if a threat had been seen near our ‘VIP’. The instructor treated us as he would with regular recruits, testing how we would react when we did a 360 degree check by standing behind us with a blade or firearm.”

Dave added that he was also impressed by demonstrations of the Vienna Police K9 Unit and WEGA – Vienna’s Special Intervention Unit, who specialise in effecting arrests of dangerous or armed individuals, including organised crime group members.

Another highlight was a visit to the force’s Technology Unit, which deals primarily with drones.

Dave said: “The drones they used varied from palm sized to a metre squared. They gave a demonstration of the larger one by flying it upwards and then using it to zoom in on a billboard that was outside a nearby airport three kilometres away and being able to read it. 

“We were then taken over to see how the Air Marshals work – I was unaware these armed officers are used in Europe. We were shown two full size aircraft used to practice operations in; one short haul and one long haul. Both are fully equipped with dummies and CCTV in order to review the drills and identify errors. When conducting their shooting qualifications they have to score 100 per cent due to the ramifications if they were to miss a shot whilst in flight.”

Chief Inspector Dylan Quigley, head of the RGP’s Recruitment, Training and Performance Department, added that these type of trips are invaluable for officers.

He added: “Learning is like a compass, it’s doesn’t just go in one direction and it’s not just sitting behind a desk looking at power point presentations in a classroom environment.

“It’s also branching out to other organisations and learning how they operate and bringing that knowledge back to benefit our organisation.”

The International Police Association is a friendship organisation for police officers, whether serving or retired.

It was founded in 1950 by English police sergeant Arthur Troop.

There are around 369,000 members in 68 countries on six continents, making the IPA the largest police association in the world.

For more information on the IPA Gibraltar Branch – visit https://ipa-gibraltar.gi