WK 415 Building relationships with police for education and training

When law enforcement professionals have direct experiences that give them a solid understanding of why we must protect human rights and what that means, it helps to improve community relations and encourage empathy for new migrants and suspected criminals.

Panelists

Featured Tactic: Maria Hirtenlehner, International Centre for Culture and Languages, Austria Complementary Presentations:

• Vahit Bicak, Police Academy, Turkey
• Elena Pahomova, Promotion for the Development of Legal Infrastructure and Legal Education, Kyrgysztan

Feature tactic:

Pairing police and refugees/immigrants to develop understanding and empathy Maria Hirtenlehner, International Centre for Culture and Languages, Austria

• View Maria Hirtenlehner’s PowerPoint presentation 158 KB
• Read Maria Hirtenlehner’s presentation outline
• Read Maria Hirtenlehner’s supporting material

While the pairing concept was originally used with new language learners, the International Centre for Culture and Languages is now using it to build empathy for immigrant populations among police officers. Police officers attend seminars on human rights, racism and discrimination, communication and conflict management. They also pair with an immigrant partner who participates in five of these seminars. Officers sit with their partners, do role-plays together and have personal conversations about human rights. They get the chance to confront their own stereotypes of immigrants by meeting ordinary people from, for example, Africa, Turkey, Hungary and the former Yugoslavia, and learning how they live lives not very different from the officers’ own. At the same time, immigrants can also confront their stereotypes of the police and have an opportunity to share their own life experiences with them. The pairs meet together outside the course context and are expected to work together on a project – cooking, artwork or some other shared interest.

Complementary Presentation

Vahit Bicak, Police Academy, Turkey

• View Vahit Bicak’s PowerPoint presentation 179 KB (Turkish)
• Read Vahit Bicak’s presentation outline
• Read Vahit Bicak’s presentation outline (Turkish)

The Police Academy used a video of the court cases of police officers accused of human rights violations as part of a larger strategy to educate police candidates about interrogation procedures that do not violate the human rights of the accused. When candidates watch the video, they learn that officers can be prosecuted for human rights violations. It also helps candidates understand that all accused – including, potentially, themselve – should be afforded human rights protections.

Complementary Presentation

Elena Pahomova, Promotion for the Development of Legal Infrastructure and Legal Education, Kyrgysztan

• Read Elena Pahomova’s presentation outline

The organization Promotion for the Development of Legal Infrastructure and Legal Education in Kyrgysztan trains police to teach law to adolescents in local schools. The goal of this approach is to improve perceptions and communication between police and adolescents. Minors learn from police officers the substantive information about their rights and responsibilities, resulting in reduced crime. Police officers become less abusive towards juveniles in the community.