CNN iReport

PHOTO: A panel of speakers answer questions during a press conference concluding the three-day Gulf States, European, and North American Law Enforcement Symposium. From left: First Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell, LAPD; Sheriff Leroy D. Baca, LASD; Advisor Abdulla Alkuwari, Qatar's Department of International Cooperation; Director Emile Perez, France's International Police Cooperation Department; and Assistant Secretary Arif Alikhan, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

LOS ANGELES -- A three-day international law enforcement symposium ended with a press conference held at the Beverly Wilshire’s Le Grand Trianon, Beverly Hills.

The Gulf States, European, and North American Law Enforcement Symposium was sponsored by the State of Qatar and co-hosted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and the French National Police.

It brought together directors-general, commissioners, chief constables, police executives, and government officials from different countries in an effort to share policing practices, discuss common problems, and plan for future joint exercises.

During the November 5 press conference, Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy D. Baca justified the choice of Los Angeles as venue being a city of unique diversity. Los Angeles, he said, is home to every people and religions of the world.

Sheriff Baca added that police agencies in all nations possess significant wisdom, the technical knowledge, strategies, and experience that need to be shared with others. The melding of disparate systems would be greatly augmented if everyone is able to access each other’s intelligence base, he said.

Together with Sheriff Baca in the panel fielding questions from members of the press were the Advisor of Qatar's Department of International Cooperation Abdulla Alkuwari, Director of France's International Police Cooperation Department Emile Perez, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Arif Alikhan, and LAPD's First Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell.

Mr. Alikhan emphasized that the primary responsibility of the government is the protection of the people and that international cooperation is the best thing that can be done in the face of modern day threats.

Chief McDonnell said that with the world becoming small in this age, the conference was a validation of the cooperation and the holding of hands to learn valuable lessons and create a unified front against those who are intent on harming others.

Director Perez emphasized the need of sharing not only of information but also mutual trust among law enforcement agencies through training activities and sharing of expertise. It involves the filling of gaps, respecting, and understanding each other as fellow human beings.

It was a common stand of the panel that due to an increasingly interconnected world, crimes today is no longer the exclusive territory of one nation or agency. The increase in common threats faced by police agencies throughout the world requires that law enforcement communities must exchange technology, information, and draw on one another's expertise. Coordinated and integrated policing methods are necessary in order to attain safer societies, it was said.

The panel had in mind joint training exercises in the future where, according to Director Perez, "there would be no teacher or student." Everyone would be learning from each other.

A list of names was furnished indicating 56 attendees coming from law enforcement agencies and some government offices in Canada, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Monaco, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, France, Singapore, Germany, and Spain. Also represented was the International Police Cooperation Dept.

In addition to the LASD and LAPD, othe US offices that sent participants were the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, US Department of Homeland Security, University of California-Los Angeles, Beverly Hills Police Dept., FBI Counterterrorism Division-Los Angeles, Las Vegas Metro Police Dept., Air Force Office of Special Investigations, New York Police Dept., Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office-Virginia, and the Naval Criminal Investigation Service.

.