From September 1-15, a delegation of 15 police officers from Irkutsk, Russia visited the United States on the 2000 Law Enforcement Exchange Program.

All 15 Russian officers participated in the exchange in Irkutsk as a host family or program organizer. During the first week of the two-week program, the delegates stayed with the American police officers they had hosted at five different sites across the U.S.: Nye County, Nevada, Westminster, Massachusetts, Laconia, New Hampshire, Dallas, Texas and Sunnyvale, California.

At these sites the participants examined the operations of local and state law enforcement, including police training and education, community policing, rule of law, and ethics. They participated in ride-alongs with officers at the local police departments, observed SWAT demonstrations, witnessed how police work in schools, visited state police academies, court rooms, 911 dispatch, and forensic labs.

At the start of week 2, the participants reunited in Washington, D.C., where they visited the FBI Academy and the Headquarters of the U.S. Park Police and learned about the realm of federal law enforcement.

After visiting the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, the group traveled to New York City to conclude their two-week stay with a cultural program. A highlight of the New York program was a private U.S. Park Police escort to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

The delegation left an excellent impression on the communities, police departments and agencies they visited, and returned to Irkutsk inspired by many of the things they had observed during their trip.

Project Harmony partnered with the Irkutsk Region Department of Internal Affairs, Irkutsk City Department of Internal Affairs and the East-Siberian Law Institute for the 2000 Law Enforcement Exchange Program. A 13-person delegation, led by Ed Cronin, Fitchburg, MA and Don Olsen, Sunnyvale, CA, traveled to Irkutsk from May 25 till June 9, 2000. American police officers in the delegation represented five states, including Texas, California, Nevada, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The program itinerary consisted of meetings with law enforcement and fire safety officials, Q & A forums with investigators, beat inspectors, criminal police officers, fire fighters and training seminars with patrol units in Irkutsk. American participants lived in home-stays with their Russian counterparts, experiencing the lives of Russian police families.

American police officers from the delegation led training seminars for their Russian colleagues in the following areas: community policing techniques, body language in interrogation, public safety partnerships between fire and police, arrest procedures and domestic violence protocol. Over 400 Russian police officers, firefighters and cadets benefited from the training seminars. Both Russian and American participants affirmed that this law enforcement dialogue helped to erase stereotypes of how policing is administered in each country. The range of professional topics covered during the program and the cultural experience with host families, gave American participants a deeper awareness of the challenges facing police in Russia.