Tourism plays a huge role in Mongolia – each summer, thousands of foreigners arrive in the country to see the sights, experience the culture and attend the Naadam Festival. Inevitably, however, there are problems when foreigners find themselves in difficulty. The English language skills of the typical Mongolian police officer are not outstanding – for this reason, since 2014, college and university students with a good command of the language have been employed to work with them.

The ‘Tourist Friendly Student-Police Programme 2018’ will continue this summer when the tourist arrivals in Ulaanbaatar begin to surge. Some 30 students with good English skills have been selected from 125 students of universities and institutes and have undergone training in tourist safety and security, city tour basics, historical and cultural sightseeing; they have already started to work as student police and tourist guides. The 30 students have established labour contracts with the Ulaanbaatar Police Department.

Over the past four years, the activity has being organised by the National Police Agency, the Ulaanbaatar Tourism Department and the Students’ Union of Mongolia. The study shows that thanks to the student police, tourist-related offences have decreased by 42 percent.