On September 1st 2022, Manila: The Philippine National Police Commission has launched the 28th National Crime Prevention Week (NCPW) which begin from September 1st to 7th, 2022 at aiming to intensify the effort of different stakeholders including society towards achieving a comprehensive approach in crime prevention and criminal justice system. With the theme “IN THE NEW NORMAL: LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO PREVENT CRIME TOWARDS ACHIEVING PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT”, the webinar titled Promoting Regional Cooperation in Asia has been convened on September 1st, 2022 intended to gather all partners, organizations and institutions to effectively prevent and exchange views on the strategies, initiatives and best practices for synergize the coordination amongst each other in ASEAN region.
ASEAN National Police or ASEANAPOL participated in this remarkable event through its Executive Director, Police Brigadier General Zaw Lin Tun with the attendance of eight (8) global stakeholder / organization namely from Asia Crime Prevention Foundation (ACPF), Asia Development Bank (ADB), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), United Nations and Far East Institutes for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI), European Union to Philippines, INTERPOL National Centre Bureau (NCB) Manila and Office of United Nation & International Organizations (UNIO).
The occasion commenced with welcoming speech by the National Police Commission, Commissioner Ricardo P. Bernabe III. As an introductory, he expressed his sincere gratefulness towards the presence of distinguished guest speakers and webinar attendees for uphold the commitment in achieving the aims to formulate a comprehensive strategy and initiatives through an informative deliberation between the involved organization and institutions in promoting cooperation in the area of crime prevention and criminal justice in Asia.
Recognizing the needs for a coordinated and coherent approach in deterring of trans-border crimes, Pol. Brig. Gen. Zaw Lin Tun then emphasized the ASEANAPOL Secretariat roles and mandate in invigorate of strategic approaches towards an effective crime prevention in the ASEAN region. Affirming that the prevention of criminal potential amongst individuals and the opportunities to constitute criminal acts as the primary and secondary prevention, a wider-link international cooperation across the globe and continuous effort in bolstering of capacity building effort among ASEAN Police Forces is significant as part of individual competency and organizational development. In the event, others invited guest speaker from international organizations / entities also shared their foresight towards ensuring the global partnership through an effective mode of communication for promoting the regional cooperation on crime prevention and criminal justice in the region.
The webinar successfully concluded by Alberto A. Bernardo, Commissioner, Vice Chairperson & Executive Officer of National Police Commission whereby, highlighted in his closing remark that the nature of crimes which is more sophisticated than ever. Thus, the urgent need to develop effective cooperation arrangement, the importance of inter-agencies coordination and way forwards for creating a comprehensive approach in crime prevention and criminal justice are crucial. Through this webinar, the participant representatives shared their respective area of cooperation and expertise in crime prevention and criminal justice which further allowed for brighter opportunities of potential cooperation among governments and institutions. ASEANAPOL reaffirmed its commitment to prevent and combating transnational crimes and to strengthen individual competency of police officer as part of criminal justice system transformation.