Alumni in Focus

Daniel Zivocky

Investigator - Class of 2016

It is always such a pleasure to reunite with our dear Alumni and see them succeed following their ILEA participation! In the recent years, more and more of our Alumni are being invited to return to Budapest as guest lecturers at ILEA Specialized Courses. Let us highlight the very first such ILEA graduate.

We are honored to present to you Lt. Daniel Zivocky, Commissioner of the Criminal Police and Investigation Directorate of the Czech  Republic, and Alumnus of our first Wildlife Trafficking Investigators Program, October 17 - 28, 2016, instructed by professionals from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Lt. Zivocky has worked within the police force for 16 years, and is currently deployed in Georgia, working within the European Union Peace Keeping Operation (EUMM) as National Expert.

In 2016, while working in the General Crime Department in Prague, Lt. Zivocky had several specializations, wildlife crime being one of them. Due to his outstanding work, he was selected to be a participant of the ILEA's pilot course on Wildlife Trafficking in Budapest. At the training, participants were presented with a case study by the instructors who encouraged them to develop a possible "real case" investigation, according to the given scenario. Their task was to apply both their prior experiences and the theoretical knowledge they obtained through the presentations.

During a casual discussion of shared experiences on wildlife crime – particularly the illegal trade of the rhino’s horns – with the team of instructors, Daniel shared a very similar case he recently worked on back home. The investigation of the case was a big success, and turned out to be internationally known. So much that the given scenario was, in fact, inspired by it and presented with differences in the modus operandi (the way in which the crime was executed).

It is no surprise that the lead instructor, Bruce Kindle, invited Lt. Zivocky to join the team as an adjunct at the following year’s Wildlife Trafficking Investigators Program, with the purpose of presenting his case and best practices to the participants. Daniel returned to Budapest in 2017 as well, and his presentation added a great amount of value to the course. Needless to say, by 2018, Daniel became a permanent member of the instructors' team as a European expert, offering a wider range of presentations covering various topics, including Ethics & Corruption, Interviewing & Interrogation, and Vehicle Searches. This May, it is Daniel's third time as instructor at the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest.

Dear Lt. Daniel Zivocky, thank you for your dedication and professionalism, and the added value you bring to our courses!