training courses delivered at the police premises in six Kosovo regions taught the
participants to understand and recognize the communication shortfalls. The course taught
the participants how to receive and prioritize incoming telephone calls regarding crimes in
progress; how to show empathy and determine response requirements in accordance with
established procedures; emergency intervention and co-operation with other institutions;
incomplete calls; and communication with children through the emergency lines with focus on
calls related to domestic violence. An important part of the training course was also related to
stress and how to identify symptoms with some practical examples related to stress
management.
In order to ensure sustainability of the project, from 20-24 October the Mission conducted a
training-of-trainers course on communication with the public in emergency situations for 34
dispatchers of the Kosovo Police and the operators of the Agency for Emergency
Management. The course provided the participants with a range of topics, including the
importance of co-operation, communication, situational awareness, decision-making,
teamwork and effect of barriers with a direct impact on dispatchers’ performance.
Nineteen officers of the Kosovo Police Regional Directorate Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North
received training on media communication in cases of crisis and big events delivered by the
Mission from 15-19 December. The purpose of this training was to enhance the
communication skills of the police officers through the provision of topics and practical
exercises on the role of the media during the crisis, media phases of a crisis, crisis
management, the organizational setup and strategic crisis communication with the media
and how to generally co-operate with the media. Due to its importance and sensitivity, the
legal framework covering crisis management and media relations also formed an important
part of the training.
Department of Human Rights and Communities
In 2014, the DHRC SMS carried out monitoring programmes and advised the police on
issues such as hate crimes, freedom of expression, security of non-majority communities and
use of force. The findings and recommendations deriving from these monitoring exercises
were discussed with the KP Management at three round tables that were organized in each
of seven police regions. The aim of the sessions was to discuss human rights issues
identified during DRHC SMS’s monitoring activities.
Through its monitoring activities in 2013, DHRC SMS observed that the KP occasionally
violates the right to freedom of expression and produced a non-public report on this issue,
which includes analysis of the problem as well as recommendations to the KP. These
recommendations included, among others, the need to organize training for KP officers on
the right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed under the legal framework and
corresponding international standards that are directly applicable in Kosovo. Based on
findings of this report, DHRC SMS, in co-operation with the KP Training Department,
organized a two-day training in Prishtinë/Priština on the right to freedom of expression for 16
participants on 26-27 March 2014. The participants refreshed their knowledge of human
rights standards and Kosovo laws related to the right to freedom of expression, hate speech
and the right of LGBT community related to freedom of expression.
The DHRC SMS has also engaged in advocacy and capacity building activities to improve
compliance of the KP in the area of use of force. On 12-14 May, DHRC SMS organized three
days of training on Critical Incident Management and Protection of Human Rights for 23
Special Operations Unit (SOU) commanding officers. The training was designed to expand
on the knowledge that commanding officers had gained during previous trainings on human
rights and police ethics organized by DHRC SMS in 2013. Through interactive presentations
and exercises, the officers learned about human rights considerations in critical incident
management, concentrating on the issues related to use of force (deployment of firearms
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