Since 2020, the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 Programme "International Police Cooperation and Combatting Crime" project No.EEZ/VP/2020/1 "Support to the State Police for accelerating and improving the quality of economic crime investigations in Latvia" has organised several trainings and missions aimed not only at improving the professional knowledge of officers, but also at making more efficient and strengthening cooperation processes between law enforcement agencies in Latvia and abroad.
Training activities were carried out in various forensic areas related to economic crime investigations. Employees were trained in the latest trends and challenges, which allowed them to acquire advanced skills and knowledge. In total, 3,155 employees - 1,969 women and 1,186 men - from organisations such as the State Police, the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Latvia, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the State Revenue Service, the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, Eurojust, Europol and other law enforcement agencies were trained in 19 seminars and conferences.
The seminars were held both in person and remotely via the Zoom online platform. The topics of the seminars covered various components of the problems of combating and investigating economic crime. Top experts in the field provided insights on topical issues such as the movement of illegal excise goods, environmental crime, illegal distribution of audiovisual content, virtual currency crime, virtual currency investigations, data analysis, money laundering. The project also hosted an annual international conference, bringing together Latvian and foreign professionals to share their experience in preventing and combating money laundering.
In order to gain even more insight into the daily life of foreign experts, the project enabled officials from Latvia to go on exchange trips to other law enforcement agencies in Europe, the UK and the USA. A total of 71 trips were undertaken, involving 211 persons from the General Criminal Police Directorate, in particular the DNA, document, IT, audio and accounting forensic units of the Forensic Directorate, as well as from the European Public Prosecutor's Office. Four of these visits were organised in cooperation with the Norwegian National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crimes (ØKOKRIM) in the field of environmental crime. Representatives from the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Latvia, the State Environmental Service and the Nature Conservation Agency have also participated in these visits.
The opportunity to travel on official visits and attend seminars has been of great benefit in improving the qualification and practical experience of the State Police officers. Staff members evaluated the activities as successful and pointed to various benefits, highlighting in particular the opportunity to develop international experience, make new contacts and exchange up-to-date information on investigative techniques.
The training and missions on environmental and economic crime were organised within the framework of the of European Economic area grant 2014-2021 programme “International Police Cooperation and Combating Crime” project No.EEZ/VP/2020/1 “Support to the State Police for increasing effectiveness and quality of economic crime investigation in Latvia”
