OSCE Mission to Serbia supports Interior Ministry’s efforts to assist crime victims
A four-day OSCE-supported workshop for officers from Serbia’s Interior Ministry and the Police Academy took place from 20 to 23 March 2012 in Belgrade.
The workshop introduced a framework for police response to victims of crime, including mechanisms for providing information to victims; using risk assessment instruments, and developing victim referral systems. A publication on the best national and international practices of dealing with victims of crimes was presented by the Mission in December last year.
“Improved victim and citizen support mechanisms can encourage greater accountability of the police, strengthen community-oriented policing and service orientation in the Interior Ministry, which in the long run will lead to more positive public perception of the police,” said Stig Maansson, the Deputy Head of the Law Enforcement Department of the OSCE Mission.
The workshop was moderated by the Serbian Victimology Society and the Swedish non-governmental organization “Safe Sweden”. Magnus Lindgren representing the latter said: “Police are often the first representatives of the society that a crime victim comes in contact with. While much progress has already been made in ensuring a supportive treatment of victims by the Serbian police, more needs to be done to move the focus to the victim.”
The workshop results are expected to contribute to strengthening the victim support system in the Serbian police, and serve as a needs assessment for developing a specialized training programme for police officers on working with victims of crime.
The publication Victims of Crime, International and Serbian perspective is available in English and Serbian:
//www.osce.org/serbia/documents