One of the great benefits about the International Police Association is the ability to visit countries all over the world and instantly become friends with local police officers. My name is Jason Cohen, retired NYPD detective and now licensed private investigator and owner of Allegiance Investigative Solutions LLC in NYC. I am also a proud, long-time member of IPA-USA New York City Region 2.

From my past experiences and trips to Spain and Morocco in 2019, courtesy of IPA Valles Barcelona, and another 2019 IPA trip to Scandinavia (Norway, Denmark, and Sweden), the IPA officers work tirelessly to ensure our members have whatever they need to meet and greet fellow members domestically and internationally. This entails my recent visit to Eastern Europe, notably Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia.

For those members who are not aware, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was drafted in 2019 between the World Association of Detectives (W.A.D.) and IPA. W.A.D. was founded in 1925 and currently contains over 1,000 professional investigative members in 84 countries. WAD past president Dan Rusu, a member of IPA Romania and IPA President Pierre-Martin Moulin collaboratively signed this MOU. The main purposes of the MOU are enhancing and sharing knowledge, training, networking, camaraderie and joint membership between both organizations, including retired police officers who are eligible to join W.A.D. The Secretary General May-Britt Ronnebro of IPA Sweden was cordially invited to our 2019 W.A.D. 94^th Annual conference in Stockholm as our most honored guest and recipient of the Hal Lipset Memorial Truth in Action Award, which was a roaring success for further strengthening the bonds between both organizations.

My current trip commenced with a visit to Prague, Czech Republic for a W.A.D. midterm conference at the end of April 2023. It was there that I met with Vladimir Macek, former police officer and IPA Czech Republic member and host. Vladimir was not only my IPA brother, but also our tour guide and companion for sightseeing around Prague. We went to one of the police stations in Prague city center and met with fellow IPA colleagues hard at work, who also found time to throw me in “the slammer” for, shall we say, educational purposes. We exchanged patches and gifts and shared police stories and policies with some similarities and notable differences between the United States and Czech Republic. Vladimir was our guest of honor at the W.A.D. Welcome Reception and Gala dinner at our fabulous hotel, the Hilton Prague Old Town. Suffice it to say, a glorious time was had by all. Vladimir was a crucial factor in putting me in touch with the other IPA contacts, all of whom I would meet with later on in my three week excursion across Eastern Europe.

Following Prague was a four hour train ride to Vienna, Austria. This was a special country for me because of my part Austrian heritage from my late father’s side, who was never able to visit during his lifetime. Before sightseeing on my own with the Big Bus Hop On and Off tour, I met up with IPA Austria president Martin Hoffman briefly for coffee with his wife. Later on that evening, Martin and I met at a restaurant near my hotel and spoke about W.A.D. and IPA MOU, along with different policing policies between Austria and the USA. Unfortunately I was not able to visit a police station during my visit, mostly in part due to the Labour Day protests running rampant throughout Vienna at that time. However, I still enjoyed my time and look forward to future visits throughout the Austrian countryside.

After leaving Vienna, my journey continued as I jumped on a quick one hour train ride to Bratislava, Slovakia. That is where I met up with another great friend, Ladislav Csollei, IPA president of Bratislava II, Slovakia and some other officers. After taking a tram around Bratislava for sightseeing, the next day Ladislav was gracious enough to pick me up from my hotel and take me to a police station and the US Embassy for a visit. Afterwards, we continued our journey outside the Old Town to Hrad Devin (Devin Castle) after stopping at his favorite place for lunch.

After leaving Bratislava, around two and a half hours later, I arrived in Budapest, Hungary. After sightseeing on my own on the first day, I met up with Budapest IPA member Ida Havasi the next day. Ida was reminiscent of my own maternal grandmother, and as such we formed a unique bond. Unfortunately many of the police officers we encountered, especially at the police stations, were not IPA members. Due to this technicality, we were unable to visit and tour any police station. The furthest we were able to enter was the lobby of the downtown headquarters. After our multiple bus trip across the city, we enjoyed some dinner and parted ways.

Next on the trip, I was picked up in Budapest by a friend Martina from Slovenia who drove me back to her country about three and a half hours away. We went sightseeing throughout her hometown of Maribor, a lovely city suburb. The next day I met up with fellow WAD member from Slovenia, Tina Kramberger to a police station for camaraderie and networking. The goal was to close the gap between the public law enforcement and private sector investigations in regards to cooperation on certain cases. This was a success as one of the heads of the Maribor regional police department headquarters, Bostjan Velicki, said he would most certainly utilize private investigators to assist whenever feasible in accordance to their laws and regulations.

The following day, we traveled an hour to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, with my Martina and private investigator colleague Tina. After sightseeing with them, Tina and I had an appointment to meet with Marjan Prah-Podborski from Ljubljana Police at a highway district. Once there, we were able to see the vehicles such as motorcycles and riot truck as well as squad cars.

Sadly, my Eastern European trip concluded and ultimately the time came for me to return home to New York City. My three weeks visiting overseas, which took me to seven countries, was a phenomenal experience that will be hard to top. Besides the erratic roller-coaster weather where one minute it was hot and the next was cold, rainy and dreary, these aforementioned pictures are a mere snapshot of countless memories that will never be replicated and certainly not forgotten. I still keep in touch with my European IPA colleagues to this day and hope to see them again. Onward and upward until my next adventure, Servo per Amikeco and stay safe, watch your six, and stay tuned…

By Jason Cohen, NYPD Detective (Ret.), Licensed Private Investigator, IPA-USA New York City Region 2,
W.A.D. Sgt at Arms, Chairman of New Business Committee