POLICE-RELATED ACTIVITIES OF FIELD OPERATIONS SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE Human Rights and Police Accountability On 27 and 28 February, to further strengthen the accountability and integrity of law enforcement agencies, the Mission, together with the MoI, organized a study visit to the Romanian MoI’s Anti-Corruption Directorate. Five representatives of the Serbian MoI’s Sector for Internal Control (SIC) learned from their Romanian counterparts how to regulate and implement an integrity test and conduct an analysis of the corruption risk among police officers. The participants were given an opportunity to acquire knowledge on maintaining an advanced database registry of corruption risks, to which different work posts in the police service may be exposed, and on the methodology for conducting a corruption risk assessment. Based on the lessons learned during this visit, the Mission will assist the MoI in developing a system for corruption risk assessment in the upcoming period. From February to April, the Mission together with the MoI built the capacities of police officers from central and district levels, designated to handle requests for access to information of public importance and to resolve complaints filed against the police. Twenty-one seminars with a total of 630 participants provided much needed direct contact between district-level handlers of requests and their colleagues working at the central MoI level. The seminars created an opportunity for an organization-wide discussion and clarification of issues regarding the procedure of handling requests for access to information of public importance that are submitted to the MoI. They also contributed to clarifying procedures of dealing with citizen complaints against the police. Overall, the Mission efforts contributed to fostering a more transparent and accountable security sector. From October to November, to foster accountability in the relationship between community and the police, the Mission, together with the Office of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and with the MoI, organized four workshops for police officers focusing on how to identify various types of discrimination and adequately respond to them. A total of 100 officers from 12 police districts in Serbia2 learned about international standards and national legislation pertaining to anti-discrimination, including principles of gender equality in the security sector. In line with the agreement reached among the MoI, the Commissioner’s Office and the Mission, half of the participants were women police officers. The workshops were held in Belgrade, Kragujevac and Zrenjanin. This activity complements the MoI’s commitment to uphold ethical principles and diversity in police work. As of 2018, the topic of hate crime was incorporated in the anti-discrimination training for police. 2 Police officers from the police districts of Belgrade, Sombor, Kikinda, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Novi Pazar, Novi Sad, Pančevo, Prijepolje, Prokuplje, Smederevo and Vranje attended. In December, the Mission and the MoI jointly commissioned the 11th consecutive annual public perception survey on the work of the police to provide reliable data for measuring trends in how citizens of Serbia perceive the effects of police reform. The survey was conducted on the basis of a representative sample of 1,000 face-to-face interviews. The questionnaire contained 120 questions that had also been used in previous surveys, thereby enabling data comparison and the study of trends. Anti-Corruption From January to March, the Mission supported the MoI’s Service for Combatting Organized Crime to deliver the final two cycles of a four-week basic specialized training course on corruption. A total of 120 police investigators learned more about the criminal legislation framework covering corruption-related crimes, ways to use available databases, and basics of forensic accounting. The training was held at the MoI’s Basic Police Training Center in Sremska Kamenica. These last two cycles completed a process initiated by the Mission in September 2017. The trained police investigators will subsequently enrol in advanced anti-corruption courses. In March 2018, the “Law on Organization and Jurisdiction of State Authorities in Suppressing Organized Crime, Terrorism and Corruption” came into force. In addition to establishing relevant specialized departments in Higher Prosecution Offices and Higher Courts in Belgrade, the Law also established the Anti-Corruption Department within the MoI, which acts by order of the specialized prosecutor. The Mission enhanced the capacities of 120 MoI Anti-Corruption Department officers by providing 24 training courses on corruption, investigation of the misuse of public funds, qualifying economic crime and corruption offences, and on the recognition of evidence in such cases. As part of its efforts to support the police and prosecution in effectively fighting corruption, the Mission continued to build the capacities of the MoI as well as to enhance the cooperation between the MoI and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.  The main focus throughout 2018 was on capacity-building of the 120 police officers working in the MoI’s Anti-Corruption Department and its ten newly established anti-corruption field sections in Belgrade, Čačak, Jagodina, Kraljevo, Niš, Novi Sad, Subotica, Šabac, Užice and Zaječar. With the Mission’s support, all of these police officers participated in 24 specialized training courses on corruption, investigation of the misuse of public funds, qualifying economic crime and corruption offences, and on the recognition of evidence in such cases. More specifically, this entailed the following training events: • From 19 February to 28 March, the Mission, together with the MoI organized four courses on open source databases 87