Deep intl cooperation in police education urged

Rapidly evolving security threats are prompting police education institutions to strengthen international exchanges, share training resources and develop more coordinated approaches to talent development, participants at an international forum said on Tuesday.

More than 120 law enforcement officials, heads of police academies, experts and representatives of international organizations from 40 countries and regions attended the International Forum on Police Education Cooperation of the 2026 Conference of the Global Public Security Cooperation Forum (Lianyungang) in Jiangsu province.

Hosted by the People's Public Security University of China, the police education cooperation subforum focused on strengthening talent development to improve security governance.

Tsang Wai-hung, chairman of the Global Public Security Cooperation Forum (Lianyungang), said rapid changes in the world, particularly advances in technology, require police officers to continuously update their knowledge and skills.

Strong police education and closer international cooperation are essential to keeping officers abreast of those changes, Tsang said. Countries should share their own strengths while learning from the experiences of others, turning exchanges into stronger overall law enforcement capabilities.

Tsang said this was also why police education had become an important part of the forum, which seeks not only to identify common challenges but also to turn consensus into cooperation and action.

Over the past five years, the subforum has built a cooperation network involving more than 70 law enforcement education and research institutions, with training and exchange programs benefiting personnel from more than 100 countries and regions, said Liu Yupeng, head of the Ministry of Public Security's senior police officers academy.

Under a talent development initiative launched in 2022, partner institutions have exchanged more than 500 students and trainees and made progress in course recognition and faculty exchanges. An action plan introduced last year has also led to the development of 10 courses focusing on smart policing and transnational crime governance.

Liu said future cooperation should further improve compatibility between curriculum standards, expand technology-enabled teaching, including virtual simulation and big data analysis, and deepen exchanges among young law enforcement personnel.

Jorge Fainstein Day Gastrell, head of the INTERPOL Global Academy, said stronger links among police education institutions are becoming increasingly important as criminal methods spread across borders faster than traditional training systems can respond.

Fraud techniques, synthetic drugs and the criminal use of artificial intelligence transcend borders and jurisdictions, he said. Police academies should build a connected network in which expertise can circulate more quickly while institutions retain their own characteristics.

Through the INTERPOL Global Academy Network, institutions from different regions are already co-developing courses, exchanging faculty members and opening specialized programs to officers from other countries.

Naeem bin Atallah Aljohani, acting deputy director of King Fahad Security College in Saudi Arabia, said cooperation against emerging security threats should begin before crises occur — in classrooms, training grounds and research and innovation laboratories.

Rustam Abduganievich Khatamov, president of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, called for cooperation to move beyond delegation visits toward joint courses, faculty and researcher exchanges, collaborative research and training exercises involving officers from different countries.

The annual report of global police education (2026), released during the subforum, said police education is shifting from a traditional focus on professional knowledge and operational skills toward a broader system combining knowledge renewal, capability development and continuous professional education.

International cooperation has also expanded from personnel exchanges to joint curriculum development, faculty training, mutual recognition of standards and broader capacity building, the report said.

Looking ahead, the report called for cooperation to focus on common professional competencies, joint development of case-based courses, local instructor training, responsible use of digital technologies and sustained sharing of educational resources.

yangzekun@chinadaily.com.cn