International Police Association
The International Police Association (IPA) is the largest organisation for police officers in the world, founded by British sergeant Arthur Troop (1914–2000). The association has 64 national sections and over 420,000 members and associate members.
Organizational structure and goals
The International Police Association was founded on 1 January 1950 under the Esperanto motto on its emblem, Servo per Amikeco (Service through Friendship), to create friendly links and encourage cooperation between individual police officers around the world. It organizes participation in international, national and local professional, cultural and social events and offers opportunities for professional development in its educational facility, IBZ Gimborn (Germany) www.ibz-gimborn.de, with funding for individual members through the Arthur Troop Scholarship. It also offers exchange of best practice and topics faced by the police in today’s world by attending World Seminars, in particular for young police officers and professional Police exchange programmes, emergency aid for disasters, coordinated by the International Social Commission and accommodation opportunities in more than 70 IPA Houses established in more than 20 countries. The IPA organises the International Youth Gatherings for children of IPA members aged 16–17 in a different country each year. The IPA has 5 international commissions, each chaired by a member of the Permanent Executive Board and with members from various countries around the world. The External Relations Commission provides liaison officers at various UN, European and American organisations. The International Cultural Commission looks after the cultural events and competitions, runs the International Youth Gathering amongst its tasks. The International Professional Commission runs the police placement programme, the Arthur Troop Scholarship, Young Officers' Seminars and carries out professional surveys. The International Social Commission looks after emergency and humanitarian aid to members following natural disasters, looks after IPA houses and coordinates social and sporting events, as well as youth holiday exchanges. The International Internal Commission is responsible for maintaining and revising the international rules and statute of the association. The main offices of the organization (IAC) are at Nottingham.
History
The IPA – the largest police organisation in the World – was founded on 1 January 1950. Since that time, its Esperanto motto "Servo per Amikeco" (Service through Friendship) has reached more people than could have been imagined.
The association was formed because a police sergeant from Lincolnshire, England, Arthur Troop, wanted to create a channel for friendship and international co-operation amongst police officers. With the help of early pioneers he helped to found other national sections in Western Europe, Africa, America (north and south), Asia and Australasia. In 1955, at the first International Executive Committee meeting in Paris, he became the first international secretary general, a post he held until 1966.
In the Queen’s Birthday Honours List of 1965, Arthur Troop was awarded the British Empire Medal for his work in founding the IPA. At the 26th IEC Conference in Vienna, in 1995, he was awarded the IPA World Police Prize. The association's 50th Anniversary World Congress was held in Bournemouth in May 2000.