A delegation led by Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Armenia visits the Police (VIDEO)

On Friday, July 24 First Deputy Head of the RA Police, Police Lt. Gen. Hunan Poghosyan received the delegation of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia led by Mr. Clark Price, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in the Republic of Armenia.
Welcoming the guests, Mr. Poghosyan presented the peculiarities of the current stage of police reforms, spoke about the successes achieved so far and expressed his satisfaction with the high level of cooperation between the Armenian Police and the U.S. Embassy in Armenia.
During the meeting the Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Mr. Price said, “The U.S. Embassy in Armenia attaches importance to the cooperation with the Armenian Police, within the framework of which public order trainings were regularly held for police employees both in Armenia and the USA during 2010-2014. And the application of the practical skills and knowledge  acquired by officers of the “Angels' battalion” and the Department of Public order protection ss a result of those trainings is quite satisfactory and we are ready to collaborate with the Police to organize public order trainings in the future and provide necessary assistance. This is a continuous process. To take a more substantial approach to the problem, we would like to know what lessons have been learnt from the protests against electricity price hike held in Yerevan in June”.
Mr. Price expressed his appreciation of the warm welcome extended to them and assured that the police reform process will become more effective and targeted if the U.S. Embassy-Police cooperation keeps on developing and strengthening.
Touching upon the latest developments in Yerevan, Mr. Poghosyan mentioned that in connection with a number of incidents which occurred on Baghramyan avenue and Azatutyan square in Yerevan on June 23, 2015, under the instruction of Head of Police of the Republic of Armenia Vladimir Gasparyan an internal investigation into the lawfulness of police actions was immediately started in the Department of Internal Security of the RA Police. As of today, 12 police officers have faced disciplinary actions and the investigation of the criminal case initiated at the RA Special Investigation service is underway.
Mr. Price highly assessed the police actions and tolerance displayed during those days and attached importance to the prompt police reaction in connection with holding liable those police officers who had committed violations while performing their duties.
The possibility of the Embassy’s further assistance in organizing Police officer refresher trainings was examined during the meeting.