PW_04_2017

Article

1st International Police Women’s

Conference in Romania Jaspreet Athwal Nottinghamshire Branch

After two years as an IPA member and as the Nottinghamshire Branch Secretary, I embarked on my first overseas adventure to the 1st International Police Women’s Conference in Romania. It was an incredible experience where I met female officers from Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Cyprus and Israel. I was the only representative of the United Kingdom and it was great that so many people actually knew about Nottinghamshire, whether it be through Robin Hood or Carl Froch. S ection Romania were outstanding hosts who started our trip, on the first night, by taking us to a huge Brewery. The Elena Banea, the Vice President of the Romanian Section spoke in depth about how the role of Women in Policing has advanced in recent years. She gave examples of opportunities that would never have been open to female officers in the past, but now are. Aside from the conference I was given a guided tour of Romania’s Palace of Parliament in the capital city of Bucharest, the second largest administrative building in the world and it was truly stunning. I visited the Vinuri De Macin

President of the Romanian Section, Mr Costica Voicu, joined us for dinner and there was live Romanian music and delicious food. The conference covered the topics of: • The Police in Romania • The Police Women’s role in the Public Order System • Police Women - A force that cannot be defeated We spoke about the gender roles in society and how they have changed in the Police. There were a lot of similarities globally, as women are now at all ranks and areas of investigation.

Winery. It was a great afternoon of trying the local wine. Afterwards we were able to see the local entertainment which included singing and dancing. I also had a trip to the Danube Delta in Tulcea, a river which flows 1,788 miles from Germany’s Black Forest to the Black sea, it is a biosphere reserve. We went on a speedboat through some of the magical passages surrounded by tree’s. I have never seen such natural beauty where there were so many species of bird flying over the waters. I have made new friends and contacts as a result of this trip. So many presents and souvenirs were exchanged. Overall I had a fantastic experience on this trip to Romania and I would like to thank our hosts at IPA Romania, my senior officers for supporting this trip and also the IPA President Mick Luke.

The audience were all young Police Constables from different countries who could all relate to being a female constable with different challenges faced working day. As we were all operational Police Officers, we were able to discuss different cases we had dealt with and relevant policing topics around them. At the end of the conference we were each formally awarded an Honorary Diploma from the Romanian Section.

POLICE WORLD Vol 62 No. 4, 2017

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