History
International Association of Police Academies (INTERPA), a worldwide association for cooperation in police training among police academies or equivalent institutions, has been founded in Istanbul on the July 2nd, 2011 with the participation of 24 Police Academies and equivalent institutions from 22 various countries and under the initiative of Turkish National Police Academy.
The idea of establishing the INTERPA has arisen from the requirements of setting up a communication and collaboration platform for police training institutions to boost up the efficiency and effectiveness of police education and training on a global level. In this manner, the association ultimately aims to enhance the capacity of trainings in policing and increase the policing standards in line with international law and human rights requirements throughout the world.
When similar associations in the world are analyzed, it seemed more viable to fill an existing gap by applying “Blue Ocean Strategy”, which resulted establishing a worldwide police-training-cooperation association among police academies or equivalent institutions. The unique of INTERPA has been;
- A Worldwide Association,
- Uncontested Training Platform,
- Institutional Membership,
- No Financial Burden,
- Flexible Organizational Structure,
- Flexible Working Procedure.
That is, the INTERPA aims to establish a communication platform, which is needed by the police training institutions. The INTERPA carries out its activities without entering in competition with the other international institutions, which provide police cooperation. Within this scope; membership to the INTERPA shall not affect the rights and obligations of the parties arising from their membership in the other international institutions and their legal status in the mentioned institutions.
Based on the principles of reciprocity and equality among the member countries, INTERPA has been thriving to achieve its goals and objectives gradually and progressively becoming one of the leading organizations in the field of policing, police education and training with its 80 members from 63 countries.
Since the foundation of the association, INTERPA successfully organized and carried out 11 (eleven) International Conferences, 11 (eleven) General Council Meetings and 23 (twenty three) Executive Board Meetings in various countries. During those events, all members exchanged their experiences and best practices, conducted scientific and academic researches in the field of policing and contributed each other for the enhancement of management and training capacities of their national police training institutions.
In this regard, The 1st Annual INTERPA Conference was held in Antalya/TÜRKİYE on 24-27 April, 2012 with the theme of “Comparative Police Education”. Practical and theoretical aspects, best practices and innovative approaches in police education and training was discussed during the Conference.
Following The 2nd Annual INTERPA Conference was held in Riyadh/SAUDI ARABIA on 13-17 April, 2013 with the theme of “Contemporary Issues in Police Education, Training and Research; Faculty (Teaching Staff) Development in Police Academies; Use of Technology for Police Education and Training and Research; Curriculum Design and Development”.
The 3rd Annual INTERPA Conference was held in Kuala Lumpur/MALAYSIA on 21-24 April, 2014 with the theme of “Development of Teaching Staff in Police Academies” with the participation of 120 representatives from 36 countries.
The 4th Annual INTERPA Conference was held in Abu Dhabi/UAE on 25-27 May, 2015 with the theme of “Training of Officers in the Field of Policing that Needs Expertise” with the participation of 100 representatives from 29 countries and 2 International Organizations.
The 5th Annual INTERPA Conference was held in Khartoum/SUDAN on 28-30 March, 2016 with the theme of “Global Refugee Crisis” with the participation of 60 representatives from 18 countries and 3 International Organizations.
The 6th Annual INTERPA Conference was held in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on 28-30 March, 2017 with the theme of "Drug Issue and New Approaches in Police Training in Combating Drugs" with the participation of 70 representatives from 23 countries and 2 International Organizations.
The 7th Annual INTERPA Conference was held in Doha/QATAR hosted by the Police College of Qatar on 02-04 April, 2018 with theme of "New Trends in Combatting Terrorism and Extremism" with the participation of 105 representatives from 38 countries and 5 International Organizations.
The 8th Annual INTERPA Conference was held in Gujarat/INDIA hosted by Gujarat Forensic Sciences University (GFSU) on 11-13th February, 2019 with the theme of “Cyber Security and Combatting Cyber Crime” with the participation of 90 representatives from 35 countries and 1 International Organization.
The 9th Annual INTERPA Conference was held as a virtual event organized by Turkish National Police Academy (TNPA) on 11-13th December, 2020 with the theme of "Challenges of Police Academies for Near Future" with the participation of 118 representatives from 32 countries and 2 international organizations.
The 10th Annual INTERPA Conference was held in Antalya/TÜRKİYE hosted by Turkish National Police Academy (TNPA) on 11-14 November, 2021 with the theme of "Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic on Policing and Police Education" with the participation of 153 representatives from 40 countries.
The 11th Annual INTERPA Conference was held in Dhaka/BANGLADESH hosted by Bangladesh Police Staff College on 12-14 September, 2022 with the theme of "Digitalization of Policing" with the participation of 113 representatives from 39 countries.
The 12th Annual INTERPA Conference was held in Gujarat/INDIA hosted by National Forensic Sciences University on 22-23 November, 2023 with the theme of "Policing at Times of Technological Accidents and Natural Disasters" with the participation of 93 representatives from 31 countries and international organization.