Albania: ICITAP Launches Training for First Cadre of NBI Investigators

On April 12, ICITAP-Albania Law Enforcement Assistance Attaché joined the Director of the National Bureau of Investigations and the Albanian Security Academy Director to deliver opening remarks for the long-anticipated and historic start of NBI Investigator training. The NBI, modeled on the FBI, is expected to become an elite entity specifically working with Albania’s new Specialized Anticorruption Structure (SPAK) Special Prosecutions Office (SPO) on sensitive organized crime and corruption matters, and is a key component toward Albania’s move toward justice reform and a precondition as the country approaches EU accession talks. ICITAP designed and directly supported the investigator selection process and designed and will lead the 16-week investigator training – which will include 4-weeks of training provided by the FBI though agreement with FBI’s International Operations Division and Training Division/Quantico. The roughly 600+ initial investigator applicants undertook a rigorous selection process comprised of physical fitness tests, oral and written examinations, asset verifications, and integrity checks, including polygraph, with 28 being selected by a committee of prosecutors and judges to begin training. In Albania, ICITAP works with the support of and in coordination with the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.