4.7 Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine Activities Related to General Police Development and Reform Police Development and Reform within Security Sector Reform In the first half of the year, the PCU assisted in the training of a new police patrol in Kyiv as a pilot project for a broader police reform. The PCU developed two courses on combating human trafficking and responding to domestic violence. From July to November, the PCU trained 9,000 new police patrol officers in 17 Ukrainian cities on combating human trafficking and domestic violence in an effort to further Ukraine’s police reform. Monitoring conducted by the MoI resulted in an 80% increase in trust in the new patrol police by the public within the given time period. A survey conducted by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in 2015 shows low confidence ratings from the public regarding the traditional Ukrainian militia (police) at 22%, however, higher confidence ratings regarding the newly formed Ukrainian police at 52%.1 In the second half of the year, the PCU distributed 2,000 stickers to be placed in police cells concerning the rights of detained persons. In addition, 3,000 guide booklets on the topic were handed out to police officers and 5,500 re-sealable plastic bags, for holding the personal belongings of detainees while staying in police custody, were supplied. In July, the PCU signed a MoU with their counterpart at the European Union Advisory Mission for Civilian Security Sector Reform to establish co-operation regarding police reform in Ukraine. In December, the PCU organized an International Conference devoted to the policy issues of combating crime. It was attended by 80 prominent scholars, advocates, judges, experts and law enforcers. Strategic Planning including Threat Assessments The PCU supported the development and publication of the 2015 Organized Crime Threat Assessment in Ukraine. A team of prominent scholars and practitioners (acting security service and law enforcement officers) prepared the OCTA on the basis of national data interpreted both in light of domestic experiences and under best international practices. 1 90 USAID (2015 Sept) Two Years after Maidan: Ukrainians Committed to Democracy, Disappointed in Unmet Aspirations. http://www.ifes.org/sites/default/files/ifes_ public_opinion_in_ukraine_sept_2015_key_findings_final.pdf The assessment was published in late 2015 and presented to the scholarly and law enforcement community during a series of conferences. On 29 October, the results of the assessment and the broader issues of combating organized crime were in focus at the expert roundtable, entitled “Counteracting International Terrorism and Organized Crime: Current Civilizational Challenge for Ukraine”, that gathered 40 representatives of law enforcement agencies, experts and academia. Community Policing and Police-Public Relations In October, the PCU and the Parliamentary Ombudsman of Ukraine co-organized a conference on the current issues, challenges and opportunities of the national preventive mechanism (NPM) in Ukraine, with the focus on the three years of experience of the use of the Ombudsman Plus model in Ukraine. The event gathered NPM activists, international experts, and civil servants, as well as representatives of NGOs, law enforcement and academia, and provided a forum to discuss the current issues of NPM functioning and the Ukrainian Ombudsman Plus NPM model. In addition, a study tour to Ljubljana acquainted Ukrainian ombudsman officials and NPM activists with the Slovenian experience in implementing a NPM, and, in particular, their Ombudsman Plus model. Overall, the PCU supported six two-day trainings for 120 custodial settings officials. Two of them were organized for employees of the Main and Regional Departments of the Ukrainian MoIA and one of them for policemen from special institutions of the MoIA from across Ukraine. From August to December, the PCU supported 50 monitoring visits to detention locations and closed residential institutions, including those in the conflict zone, to support the NPM of torture and ill-treatment implemented jointly by the Ombudsman and civil society. The PCU also supported the development and publication of 500 copies of a manual for NPM inspectors. To increase awareness on the human rights of detainees, the PCU distributed 2,000 stickers on the topic to each of the 380 police custody facilities to be further distributed in police cells. To increase the awareness of police officers on the protection of human rights, 3,000 human rights in custody guidance booklets were disseminated among police officers. The PCU supplied police stations throughout the country with 5,500 re-sealable plastic bags for the personal belongings of detainees.