Amongst other topics discussed, some participants highlighted the current gap between the international level, the users at the local level and the administration of the HSD. Essentially, local police officers are the best source of intelligence and should have the possibility to provide input to the international database. Therefore, the problem was how to motivate them to submit such information to national focal points (Europol contact points) if they would not have direct access to this system. This gap is one of the fundamental challenges that need to be addressed while developing the HSD. Hate Crime Workshop for Law Enforcement In November 2010, ODIHR conducted hate crimes training in Tbilisi, Georgia for Georgian Police. This workshop was organized in response to a request for hate crimes training by the Georgian Police Academy. This request was made to the European Commission Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (TAIEX) and was specifically directed to the Italian Carabinieri Police Force, which has a training module on combating discrimination and intolerance in their police academy. The Italian Carabinieri requested that ODIHR conduct the training/workshop under the aegis of TAIEX. The workshop was attended by thirty two (32) police officers from different regions in Georgia, with a broad range of experiences and ranks, but mostly comprising mid-to- seniorlevel commanders and investigators. During the workshop, ODIHR representatives presented the basic concept of hate crimes, how to identify a hate crime, and an overview of applicable legislation in Georgia. The two external police experts presented perspectives of investigating hate crime cases from Italy and the United Kingdom. They discussed specific cases, sharing successful approaches, as well as presented “lessons learned.” ODIHR plans to follow-up in 2011 and explore additional collaborative projects with TAIEX Hate Crime Seminar for Law Enforcement in the Brcko Region, Bosnia and Herzegovina In a follow up to previous ODIHR activities with the police addressing hate crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 2008 and 2009, the OSCE Mission to BiH organized two seminars for law enforcement officers and prosecutors in Banja Luka in October 2010 and Brcko District in November 2010. An ODIHR representative and an expert on hate crime issues attended the latter seminar. The expert presented Croatian experience implementing ODIHR’s law enforcement hate crime training and addressing hate crimes. On the margins of the Brcko seminar, ODIHR also observed the initial meeting of a working group comprised of three (3) representatives of Police Academy of Republika Srpska and a further 3 representatives of the BiH Federation Police academy tasked with developing a hate crime curriculum for the two police academies in Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH. Best Practices of the ODIHR Hate Crimes Training Programme Throughout 2010, ODIHR staff has been regularly involved in the ongoing training of Polish police on responses to hate crimes in Poland. The Polish Ministry of Interior has fully embraced aspects of the ODIHR hate crimes training for police initiative and incorporated elements of the programme into the training curriculum for new recruits (cadets) as well as part of the in-service training being offered by the police. The Ministry has also initiated a programme where the ODIHR working definition of hate crimes and other concepts have been translated into Polish and are produced in CD-Rom format and in a booklet which provides detailed explanations of the phenomenon of hate crimes. Additionally, the Ministry of Interior and ODIHR are currently finalising the language for a pocket-sized booklet that will contain a brief summary (including definitions, potential responses, etc.) on hate crimes that 118