OSCE-supported training of new Ukrainian patrol police

KYIV, 2 July 2015 - A graduation ceremony of new Kyiv patrol police officers trained with the support of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator (PCU) in Ukraine was held today.

The training focused on enhancing recruits’ knowledge and skills in addressing human trafficking and domestic violence issues. Particular attention was paid to co-operation with local communities, as well as to identification and response to human trafficking and domestic violence crimes as part of routine duties. Increased risks of human trafficking and domestic violence manifestation brought on by the current situation in Ukraine were also discussed with the course participants.

The establishment of the new patrol police in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, initiated by the Ministry of Interior in January this year, is the first step in the country-wide police reform. Over 33,000 persons, including 35% women, applied and undertook tests to evaluate their general and individual skills as well as health and physical abilities. As a result of the selection, about two thousand recruits underwent initial training courses between April and June 2015.

“We are going step by step in developing police reform in Ukraine,” said Arsen Avakov, Ukrainian Minister of Interior. “We plan to train about six thousand new police officers by the end of the year, but the need is much higher – about 170 thousand police officers require re-training country-wide.”

“The public should possess the right and means to assess police performance, and openness to public scrutiny should be a key pre-requisite of democratic policing,” said Ambassador Vaidotas Verba, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine. “This approach was unequivocally supported by the OSCE participating States in Copenhagen in 1990, and should constitute a key element of any national police reform strategy developed and implemented in the OSCE region.”

The training is part of a project aimed at strengthening the capacity of Ukrainian institutions for gender mainstreaming and addressing gender-based violence more effectively.