News

Continuing the successful cooperation between Jelgava and our sister city Carmel in the USA, this week two Jelgava Municipal Police officers have gone to the state of Indiana for a two-week exchange visit. They arrived in the USA today and will start working with Carmel law enforcement officers from Monday, 15 July – joining joint patrols to get an idea of police work in the USA.

This type of police exchange first took place last year – in August, two Jelgava Municipal Police officers went on a two-week exchange to Carmel, and in September, two officers from the Carmel Police Department spent two weeks with our city’s municipal police.

This April, Jelgava Municipal Police received an invitation for its officers to participate in the exchange programme again this year. Two patrol police inspectors, Gints Burba, who has been with the police for five years, and Andrejs Enzbergs, who has ten years of service with the municipal police, have gone to Carmel. Police representative Paula Liepa noted that the officers chosen to go to the USA were selected through an internal competition. The main requirement was good English language skills, along with job performance and work experience with the Jelgava Municipal Police.

On 15 July, the Jelgava Municipal Police inspectors will begin working with the Carmel police officers. “In my opinion, it is a great opportunity to see how police work is organised in another country, gain new experiences and knowledge, and broaden one’s horizons,” said G. Burba. His colleague A. Enzbergs anticipates that after this exchange visit, there will definitely be some tactical aspects and nuances that can be applied in their daily work. It is planned that our police officers will work with the Carmel law enforcement officers daily until 31 July to gain insight into the daily operations of the Carmel Police Department. They will also meet with the Honorary Consul of Latvia in Indiana and the Mayor of Carmel, visit the Carmel County Jail, the Police Academy, participate in K9 police dog handler training, and take part in both theoretical and practical police training.

It is also planned that this year, Carmel police officers will be hosted by the Jelgava Municipal Police on an exchange visit, giving them the opportunity to learn about our police’s daily operations.