Between18 and 28 June 2018, in the Ochiuri Training Center, the Romanian Gendarmerieorganised the European Union Police Service (EUPST II) Carpathians Blueshield2018 Exercise. EUPST is an EU-funded project aimed at jointly involving Policeand Gendarmerie forces before being deployed to international missions toimprove and standardise procedural work, as well as knowledge and observance ofthe provisions of international law, especially with regard to human rights and equal opportunities.
This exercise was the largest of this kind organised by the Romanian Gendarmerie,with over 300 officers and non-commissioned officers from 13 countries(Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Italy, Republic of Moldova, Netherlands, Poland,Portugal, Romania, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom of GreatBritain and Northern Ireland)
and 4 international bodies (European Union,CEPOL, European Gendarmerie Force, and EUCAP Sahel Niger).
During the first week of the exercise, theoretical and practical training activities were conducted by all the participant forces. The second week, these forces were deployed to the locations established by the exercisescenario. The activities culminated with a crowd-and-riot control practicalexercise involving a multinational unit, a support helicopter, and twofirst-aid crews.At the closingceremony, Colonel Gheorghe-Sebastian CUCOŞ (Empowered General Inspector of theRomanian Gendarmerie) pointed out that the objectives of the exercise, whoconsisted in correlating the activities of leadership, planning, andorganisation specific to the General Staff, with practical training activitiesin the field in a multinational environment, were successfully achieved.