AMERICAN ACADEMICS HELP EASTERN EUROPEAN NATIONS
CURB ORGANIZED CRIME

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Aug. 26 -- American college and
university faculty have joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and other federal agencies in helping struggling Eastern European
democracies combat the spread of international crime.
	Faculty from the University of Virginia and John Jay College
of Criminal Justice in New York have played a major role in
developing the curriculum and teaching the courses at the
International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) that opened in
Budapest, Hungary, in April.  The academyÕs training programs being
offered to police officials from such countries as Poland, Hungary
and the Czech Republic are helping to transform the old Communist
style of law enforcement into one more focused on human dignity,
ethics and policing in a democratic society.
	In addition, faculty have provided federal agencies with
information that broadens their understanding of the social and
political factors that have led to money laundering, corruption and
other criminal activities in the emerging democracies.
	ÒThe number of criminal enterprises that have their roots in
Central and Eastern Europe is increasing yearly.  The economic
situation in many of these countries is extremely fragile and
threatened by increasing criminal activity.  International crime,
particularly financial and organized crime, is being detected on an
ever-increasing basis in the United States.  It is in our national
interest to provide assistance to police services abroad to thwart
criminal enterprises before they migrate to the United States,Ó said
Jim Pledger, FBI section chief.
	Partners in the design and implementation of the academyÕs
programs include representatives 
ACADEMICS BATTLE CRIME -- Page 2
from the FBI; State Department; Drug Enforcement Agency; Internal
Revenue Service; U.S. Customs Service; Secret Service; Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Federal Law Enforcement Training
Center; U.Va. and John Jay College.
	At the Budapest academy, announced in December, 1994, by
U.S. President Clinton and Hungarian President Goncz, the first
eight-week training program began in April, and the second session
started in July. Two other programs will begin in October and
January.  Organizers expect that as many as 250 police officers from
the 25 former Soviet bloc nations will participate annually in the
sessions.
	ÒThe instructors are committed to helping equip the law
enforcement officials with knowledge they need to make a successful
transition from totalitarianism to democracy,Ó said Tim Scovill,
associate dean for academic support at U.Va.Õs Division of
Continuing Education.
	John Jay College faculty, in recognition of their expertise
in criminal justice, assisted in the development and teaching of
courses on policing and human dignity at the academy.  Among the
courses in contemporary management of investigative practices are
those on fraud, money laundering and telemarketing.
	Since 1972, U.Va. and the FBI have collaborated to provide
accredited courses to the nationÕs top law enforcement officers at
the FBIÕs training facility in Quantico, VA.  For the 11-week
program offered four times a year at the FBI National Academy, U.Va.
faculty assist in designing curricula in forensic science,
behavioral sciences, education, law, health and physical fitness and
management.
	Although U.Va. and the FBI have a long-term partnership,
there was a sense of urgency in creating a training program for the
new academy in Hungary, said Lois Knowles, director of U.Va.Õs
academic program for the FBI.  ÒBecause there is a need to combat
the escalation of organized crime in Eastern Europe and its
subsequent spread to the United States, the training program had to
be developed quickly,Ó she said.
	When the FBI program planners asked U.Va. to provide faculty
with expertise on Russia and 
Eastern Europe, the collaboration began carefully. ÒAt the initial
meeting the law enforcement officials 
ACADEMICS BATTLE CRIME -- Page 3
and the academic experts were hesitant with each other.  Each was
wondering how the other could help in shaping the academy,Ó Scovill
remembered.  
	Both parties quickly realized, however, that the academic
experts could provide an understanding of the political,
psychological, historical and legal forces shaping the emerging
democracies, and the law enforcement representatives offered a new
perspective on activities in Central and Eastern Europe.
	In addition to Scovill and Knowles, faculty associated with
U.Va.Õs Center for Russian and East European Studies participated in
the planning meetings.  The FBI also asked U.Va. representatives to
go to Budapest to help officials design the training program at the
academy, a building that formerly housed a mounted police unit.
	During that two-day meeting, representatives from Russia,
the Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania and the Czech
Republic made presentations about crime in their countries and what
they needed to combat it.  In addition to Eastern European
representatives at the meeting were those from such western
countries as Great Britain, Sweden, Italy, Canada, Denmark and
Norway.  Representatives from the United NationÕs Crime Prevention
Agency and Eurocustoms also attended. The group identified more than
50 topics that would help law enforcement officials combat crime.
	After evaluating the first few sessions of the ILEA and
making appropriate adjustments in the programs, the role of U.Va.
faculty will diminish.  However, U.Va. will conduct longitudinal
studies of graduates and assist with the opening of other academies.
	ÒU.Va. is at the heart of a project that can make a
significant difference to law enforcement in 

Eastern Europe and the United States,Ó Scovill said.

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August 25, 1995

	FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact at U.Va. Timothy Scovill at
(804) 982-5207 or Lois Knowles at (703) 640-1224.  Jim Pledger at
the FBI Academy is at (703) 640-1101, and Jim Curran at John Jay
College is at  (212) 237-8658.