Partners NewsCEPOL highlights the value of protecting innocent victims
Life in post COVID-19 societies has seen an increase in stress levels for EU citizens. Even though the lockdowns and the quarantines are over, the ramifications of the pandemic and its subsequent containment measures (lockdowns, mandatory use of masks, hard measures in circulation) can be seen, felt and do in fact still impact all aspects of life: from constant anxiety over our state of health, to financial uncertainty and concerns over the future. Financial ambiguity, the loss of personal freedoms and the lack of belief in our core European values, has weighed heavily on our collective psyche and has led to the formation of trigger points, which often find release upon the innocent. Random acts of violence, organised crime, domestic abuse cases and a general sense of hopelessness are on the rise during these times and result in an ever-increasing number of crimes, and subsequently, victims.
CEPOL onsite activity 52/2023 on Victim Protection took place from 26-29 September 2023, in the town of Veria, Greece. It was organised by the State Security Division of the Hellenic Police
, in cooperation with the Hellenic CEPOL National Unit. Experts from EU Member States such as Sweden, Spain, Romania and Greece, along with members of Academia, NGOs, as well as experts from the European Commission and ODIHR, shared their knowledge and expertise to better prepare the participants and enhance their capacity in assisting victims of crimes, in the context of their daily work or specialisation.
26 law enforcement officials, from 18 EU Member States, as well as 3 οfficials from Montenegro, Tunisia and Turkey attended the activity. The participants were actively engaged and provided their respective national and international approaches and experiences, transferring knowledge, identifying gaps and limitations, and exchanging best practices.
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The course was built with the aim to actively involve participants in all phases of the training, from the pre-course to the post-course. The first step towards this approach was to apply a flipped classroom and blended learning style of training. A series of CEPOL online training tools, linked to the curriculum of the activity, were used: Participants were required to view recordings of selected webinars and successfully complete one of three relevant online learning modules. This way all participants could reach the same entry level and valuable classroom time was saved for more intricate aspects of the training. Based on these assignments, participants had to prepare a case study to be presented during the plenary session.
The delivery of the training followed a path from the general to the specific and from the broad to the narrow in order to offer participants a global and well-rounded view on the subject topics.
During the second day of the activity, a workshop, inspired by a presentation on “First aid to Victims – Interviewing vulnerable people” required the active contribution of participants , both in the plenary session as well as in smaller working groups.
During the third day of the training a selection of case studies, submitted by the participants as their pre-Course assignments, were discussed. Participants were then divided into groups and asked to role play, based on input by their peers.
CEPOL onsite activity 52/2023 was the result of a joint effort by the State Security Division and the Hellenic Police Academy, which contributed to all administrative/logistics aspects.
Author: Hellenic Police (Greece)
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The participants appreciated the organisation of the activity and the added value brought by the experts and the organising team, which was reflected in the their feedback:
Karen, a participant from Ireland, stated: "Organisers did a great job and I feel that composition of the group was perfect. Everyone had so much experience and our discussions were fantastic and educating. I have gained huge knowledge and made some friends for life who I know I can contact if I need advice from their country on investigative matters and maybe even meet up if I am lucky enough to visit their country!".
Vladimir, a participant from Lithuania, noted: "I want to thank the organisers of the training for a wonderfully organised event and the participants for their contribution and shared experience and for a great time spent. In training, I can say that we all work in different police systems, but we have a common goal to make our society safer and better. It was a pleasure to meet you all. Thanks!".
Susanne, an expert from Sweden, among others, said: "Everyone contributed actively in the lectures, discussions and group exercises. It was very valuable to share experiences of participants from different countries. The discussions were always lively, within a positive and relaxing learning environment that fostered the exchange of knowledge and expertise." She also added that: "While I have participated in several CEPOL activities in different countries, in Veria I had a Swedish colleague who was involved for the first time in a CEPOL activity. He told me that although he had trained in several places around the world, this activity was among the three best training experiences during his 25 years in the Swedish police”.
