POLICE-RELATED ACTIVITIES OF FIELD OPERATIONS SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE Human Rights and Police Accountability With the aim of fostering greater accountability in the relationship between the community and the police, from May to December, the Mission partnered with the Office of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and MoI in organizing four workshops in Novi Sad, Pirot, Kopaonik and Belgrade for police officers on identifying and responding to various types of discrimination. In total, some 97 police officers from 16 police districts29 learned about the international standards and national legislation related to anti-discrimination and the principles of gender equality in the security sector. In line with the agreement between the MoI, the Commissioner’s Office and Mission, half of all participants were women police officers. The Mission also continued to address the topic of hate crimes in these courses. On 12 June, in assisting the authorities in combating corruption within the police and in co-operation with the MoI’s Sector for Internal Control (SIC) and DCAF, the Mission organized a workshop in Belgrade on “Integrity Planning and Management and Risk Assessment Methodologies” for 24 MoI representatives. Since the corruption risk assessment needs to be developed for different work positions within the MoI, the Mission supported SIC in developing the methodology for risk assessment and publishing Guidelines for Conducting the Corruption Risk Analysis within the Ministry of Interior. From 19 to 20 September, the Mission facilitated the participation of the Deputy Director of the ACA and Head of the Internal Control of the Custom Administration to the launch event in Vienna of the Regional Anti-corruption Platform of Internal Oversight/Control Departments of Border and Law Enforcement Agencies from the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova. The event represented a part of a joint project developed by TNTD and OCEEA in co-ordination with the relevant FOs in supporting the said institutions in preventing and countering corruption along the national borders. The platform aims to provide a forum to examine trends, developments, challenges and achievements in preventing and countering corruption as well as in promoting integrity in border security and management. To foster police accountability, from October to December, the Mission partnered with the SIC in building the capacities of police investigators in demonstrating economic crime and corruption offences. To this end, the Mission organized four training events in Belgrade for 20 participants who learned about money laundering and conducting complex financial investigations, bank documentation, application of special evidentiary measures and the criteria for their approval, the legal constraints under which they are to be performed and 29 Belgrade, Jagodina, Kikinda, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Kruševac, Leskovac, Niš, Novi Pazar, Novi Sad, Pirot, Prokuplje, Sombor, Subotica, Vranje and Zrenjanin. the use of obtained evidence. In the final event, participants undertook a simulation exercise where they investigated and tried corruption and economic crime cases. From 11 to 12 December, the Mission participated in an international conference in Poiana Brașov (Romania), focusing on the integrity and ethics of the law enforcement organized by the Romanian MoI’s Anti-Corruption General Directorate. Gathering representatives from law enforcement and civil society from Bulgaria, Greece, Moldova, Romania and Serbia, the Mission delivered a presentation on the OSCE’s policy towards strengthening integrity and accountability of the police and the value the OSCE offers in terms of assisting host country partners translate these policies into practice. In December, in co-operation with the MoI, the Mission commissioned the 12th consecutive annual public perception survey on the work of the police, to provide reliable data for measuring trends on how the Serbian public perceive the effects of the police reform process30. Anti-Corruption In order to strengthen the capacities of police and prosecutors in the fight against corruption, from February to June, the Mission organized five workshops on analysing accounting documentation in Kragujevac, Niš, Vrnjačka Banja and twice in Belgrade for 100 police officers and 30 prosecutors from the specialized Anti-Corruption Departments. During the events, participants learned how to analyse different types of accounting records, interpret financial information contained in the official records, and detect errors that could indicate possible malpractice or other illicit behaviours. On 15 March, the Mission donated IT equipment to the MoI’s Anti-Corruption Department on the Department’s 1st anniversary. The donation of 45 desktop computers with LCD monitors will assist the Department in conducting complex financial investigations, examining fraud, and investigating money-laundering cases. On 2 October, with the aim of assisting the authorities in addressing corruption in sport, in partnership with the Norwegian Embassy and Italian Government, the Mission organized a conference in Belgrade, tackling corruption and football match fixing. The event gathered 90 participants from the MoI, ACA, and office of the Republic Public Prosecutor who all discussed transnational aspects of match fixing, the links between organized crime and sport, and the methods to detect corruption-prone activities. 30 The survey was conducted using a representative sample of 1,000 ‘face-to-face’ interviews. The questionnaire contained 100 questions that were used in past surveys, thus enabling data comparison and analysis of trends. 83