International Police Association

The IPA operates as a Non-Governmental Organization open to active duty or retired members of the police force.

[2] The IPA was founded in an effort to connect past and current members of law enforcement "without distinction as to rank, position, gender, race, language or religion" across cultures.

According to its website, the organization "aims are to create and strengthen bonds of friendship between members of the police service, promote international cooperation in social, cultural and professional fields, encourage peaceful co-existence between peoples and preservation of world peace, improve the public image of the police service and enhance recognition of the IPA by international bodies.

[5] On March 16, 1961 at the IPA's organization-wide formal summit called the World Congress, the first sections outside of Europe were affiliated in Canada and Hong Kong.

At the third World Congress held in Stuttgart, Germany, in September 1961, the first African IPA section was also affiliated in Kenya.

Gimborn Castle, in Germany, houses the IPA's International Education and Conference Center, and is widely referred to as the Flagship of the Association.

It is here where professional seminars, conferences and meetings are held in idyllic wooded mountainous surroundings, some 30 miles east of Cologne in the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

IBZ Gimborn was founded on 25 October 1969  by a group led by Günter Kratz, Hans Jansen and Theo Leenders.

[15] IPA Sections frequently arrange friendship weeks for members and their families to promote the culture and traditions of their countries, thus facilitating cross-border understanding.