Head of TNP Foreign Affairs Dr. Gultekin presents TIPS Connections to the Richardson Police Chief.

Recep Gultekin, Head of Foreign Relations Department of TNP and Salim Akca, Chief of Kirikkale Police Department, visited several local and federal law enforcement agencies in and around the city of Dallas. Chief Recep Gultekin, Chief Salim Akca, and TIPS members first visited Richardson Police Department. Larry Zacharias, Chief of Police along with several deputy chiefs and other personnel welcomed the Turkish delegation. During the visit, Chief Zacharias briefed the audience about mission, values, duties, and practices that Richardson P.D had been conducting in the City of Richardson. Chief Zacharias mentioned the department’s 2006 review and crime comparison report. He mentioned that crime rates went down and how they accomplished this. Chief Zacharias also mentioned their goals for the next year.

Chief Recep Gultekin also briefed the audience about the roles, vision, and practices of Turkish National Police. He, particularly, underlined the importance of mutual collaborations of practitioners and academicians, as well as local law enforcement agencies in terms of fighting against crime. Chief Gultekin also discussed the role of TIPS. Above all, Chief Gultekin claimed that while TNP has very good relations with Federal law enforcements in the USA, local level relations needs to be improved.

Chief Salim Akca indicated that hopefully this visit would initiate a good friendship between two police departments. He invited Chief Zacharias and his personnel to the city of Kirikkale. This productive meeting ended with hopeful statements of future endeavors of TNP and Richardson City authorities. Visit to FEMA

Police Chief Salim Akca presents a plaque to FEMA Region VI Director in Denton, Texas.

Salim Akca, Chief of Kirikkale Police Department, along with TIPS members has visited Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region VI in Denton, TX. After the tour of the facility, Captain Zeki Pamuk, a TIPS member and a doctoral student in Public Affairs program at UTD, gave a presentation about the incident management system in Turkey and the role and functions of TNP during crisis situations. Later, Regional Administrator Mr. William Peterson also briefed the audience about the responsibilities and practices of FEMA Region VI. Both parties discussed about the role of law enforcement agencies during crisis incidents. Visit to University of North Texas (UNT)

Dr. Gultekin, Chief Akca, and UNT President Dr. Bataille together with new Ph.D.s, TIPS Members, and Professors.

The delegation also attended the official hooding ceremony where five distinguished TIPS members were set to graduate in August. The Head of Foreign Relations Department of TNP Dr. Recep Gultekin attended this year’s graduation ceremony as the featured speaker. Mayor of Denton, police chiefs, politicians, President of UNT Dr. Gretchen Battaila , Deans, Chairs, and faculty of UNT were present at the hooding ceremony.

In his animated speech, Dr. Gultekin started by drawing the audience’s attention to the crime problem in modern world. He talked about the necessity of international cooperation in combating any kind of crimes, especially terrorism. He mentioned TNP’s unending efforts to not only build cooperation and collaboration with its allies such as the USA but also its efforts to maintain the effectiveness and quality of that cooperation.

During this ceremony, TIPS members Samih Teymur, Izzet Lofca, Selcuk Zengin, Ramazan Yalcinkaya, and Huseyin Durmaz received their doctorate degrees. Suleyman Hancerli, Ismail Dincer Gunes, and Mustafa Kayaoglu are also set to graduate with PhD’s in 2007. Dr. Gultekin stated that TNP has recently undergone and in a sense, still undergoing dramatic transformations in its vision of crime and strategies to deal with it. And he restated his hopes to see graduates and members of TIPS program as major catalysts and actors of this process.

Before leaving Texas, Dr. Gultekin and Mr. Akca stated their pleasure with the standings and performances of their colleagues; also, they thanked UNT officials, especially Dr. Bataila not only for the heartfelt hospitality shown but also for the desire to extend and improve mutual relationship with TNP and TIPS. The delegation also had opportunity to exchange ideas of future cooperation during the dinner at Dr. Batailla’s house.