community policing in latvia 2009–2012 · the project promotion of crime prevention through...

Experience and Next StepsExperience and Next Steps

Ilze Bïrzi¿a-Ru˙ereInese Avota

Normunds GrbisMichal To‰ovsky

CommunityPolicing in Latvia

2009–2012


2009–2012

Ilze Bïrzi¿a-Ru˙ereInese Avota

Normunds GrbisMichal To‰ovsky

Conclusions of the European Commission ProjectPromotion of Crime Prevention through Community Policing

in Talsu Police Department

Experience and Next Steps


2009–2012

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The project Promotion of Crime Prevention through Community Policing in Talsi Police Department has beenfunded by the European Commission. This publication reflects only the views of the authors, and the Commissioncannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

With financial support from thePrevention of and Fight against Crime Programmeof the European UnionEuropean Commission – Directorate-General Home Affairs

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Community Policing in Latvia 2009–2012 Experience and Next Steps

Authors: Ilze Bïrzi¿a-Ru˙ere, Inese Avota, Normunds Grbis, Michal To‰ovskyEditor: Inese MuhkaDesign: E Forma SIA

Ilze Bïrzi¿a-Ru˙ere, Inese Avota, Normunds Grbis, Michal To‰ovsky© State Police of Latvia, 1012

This book was translated in cooperation with SIA Skrivanek Baltic.

ISBN: 978-9934-8311-2-6

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he pilot project Promotion of CrimePrevention through Community Policing inTalsi Police Department, was implementedfrom autumn 2009 to spring 2012. In this

period, various reorganisation processes took place inthe State Police, including the ambiguously assessedterritorial reform. Those processes influenced the courseof the project in both positive and negative ways, as thepolice staff members were uncertain about the futureand their role in the organisation. At the same time, dueto public pressure and the need for public institutions tobe more transparent and efficient for the population,many positive changes, as perceived by the public, wereintroduced in the common police routine.

Special attention was paid during the course of the projectto understanding the community's opinion about localsecurity problems as well as traditional issues of publictrust and mistrust in the State Police and reasons thereof.It should be admitted that the level of public trust in theState Police grew notably during the project period, from45% in 2009 to 69% in 2012.

It was believed for long time in Latvia that cooperationwith the population is an important duty and everydaynecessity of district officers, but it was evident duringthe project that the district officers were so overloadedin their work with documents, that there often remainsno time for visiting the population and understandingtheir opinion about the local security problems. It wasproven by data from the population surveys performedwithin the project, as well as observations from the policestaff itself. Unfortunately, the current system of policework assessment and reporting is mainly tended tosummarising quantitative indicators, and the bonussystem for performers of preventive work is not motivating,

either. The project team believes that one of the first tasksto complete for the responsible officials of the Ministryof Interior and the State Police structural units for thesake of creating interest within the staff and the desireto implement community policing throughout the countryis changing the assessment, reporting and bonus systems.

Special attention was paid during the course of the projectto training procedures related to communication skillsand problem-solving in communication with the population.Training provides the staff not only with the requiredpractical skills, but also gives a sense that the staff issupported and valued in its work. Training and its specialrole in changing the methods of police work are discussedin more detail in the chapter devoted to this issue.

Several campaigns were implemented during the courseof the project aimed at approaching the adult public andinvolving it in solving the local security problems. Theresponse to implemented public awareness campaignswas very positive; in some cases, the public interest inhandouts was even greater than estimated. This confirmsthat the population is awaiting and supporting the initiativeof police in raising public awareness in various ways,which has not been the case thus far.

The manual tries to answer the question of what iscommunity policing and how it is used in State Police ofLatvia, and researches and analyses the experience ofother countries, Czech Republic, Ireland and theNetherlands, in search for the best solutions to improvecooperation between the police and the population. Themanual proposes the techniques for obtaining public trust,which have been verified within the project, as well asprovides suggestions and conclusions for those who wishto use the experience of Talsi department in their work.

Introduction

Team of authors

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Introduction 3

1. Obtaining Public Confidence – What to Do and Why 6

2. The Standards Characterising Democratic Police Organisation 9

2.1. The Community Policing Philosophy 9

2.2. The Value System and Organisation Philosophy 11

2.3. Practical Application of the Police Value System 13

2.4. Internal Communication in Foreign Practice 15

2.5. Community Policing Assessment Criteria 16

2.5.1. Criteria for Assessing the Police Work in Latvia 16

2.5.2. Criteria for Assessing the Police Work: Foreign Experience 17

3. Educating the Staff 19

4. The Values Characterising the Serviced Territory or the Territory Profile (Department Passport) 23

5. Clarifying the Needs of the Population: Types and Methods 27

5.1. Population Surveys: Assessment of the Police Work and Clarifying the Needs of the Population 27

5.1.1. State Police Work Assessment Surveys within the Pilot Project 28

5.1.2. Survey of the State Police Customers 30

5.1.3. Surveys for Learning the Opinion of the Population in Pilot Areas 32

5.2. Experience of Czech Police in Learning the Opinion of the Population 34

5.2.1. Representative Surveys 35

5.2.2. Surveys/Inquiries among Representatives of Municipalities 36

5.2.3. Inquiries among the Interested Public 37

5.3. Other Methods for Learning the Opinion of the Population: World Cafe in Belgian Police 39

6. Using the Survey Data in Police Work Planning 40

6.1. Defining the Aims of the Organisation 40

6.2. Police Work Plan on the Local or Departmental Level and its Use in Everyday Work 41

6.3. Cooperation with Mass Media 45

7. Changes in Work Organisation – Project Experience in Latvia 47

7.1. Time Devoted to Communication with the Population and the Role of the District Officer 49

7.2. Differences in Work Organisation in the Cities and Rural Territories 51

7.3. Problem Solving Methods as a Constant Principle of Police Work 52

7.3.1. Foreign Practice in Using the Problem Analysis Method: Example of Czech Police 54

Table of Contents

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8. The Importance of Preventive Activities in Police Work 57

8.1. Preventive Activities in the State Police 58

8.2. Prevention Project Ideas and the Course of their Development 60

For the Findings 64

Annexes 67

1. Comparison of Main Aspects of Latvian and Foreign Experience in the Context of the Project 67

2. Police Work Assessment in Talsi Department in 2009–2011 69

3. Work Priorities for the State Police Kurzeme Regional Authority Talsi Department

in 2010–2012 (Summary) 71

4. State Police Kurzeme Regional Authority Talsi Department Report to the Population

about the Completed Work in 2010–2011 74

5. The issues Preceding the Survey Methodology Material 78

6. My Strength, my Weakness 80

7. Recommendations Developed by Pro-Police for the Police of the Czech Republic

21 Recommendations for Uniformed Police in 21st Century 81

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he commencement and histor icbackground of the Talsi pilot project isrelated to the active interest of non-governmental organisations in police

work by initiating and developing the discussion onvarious issues related to police work, for example,responsibility of police and claim handling procedures,police violence, conditions in places of short-termdetention, methods for assessing the police work, workplanning, work methods of the district officers, etc.1 Dueto public attention and pressure a wider discussion frominside the police department started on police workmethods, mission, goals, reporting to the public andother issues.2

When Talsi pilot project was started in 2009, the policewas characterised by several features which could benoticed by anybody, without performing any specialresearch or going deep into the police work specifics orrelations of police with the public:

• Low level of public trust. It should be noted here,that the police had not performed regularmeasurement of public opinion about the policework, therefore the low prestige of police is morerelated to public perception about the police workrather than assessment after coming into actualcontact with any of the police services.

• Mutual mistrust – both of police versus the publicand the public versus police. View of the police –the public is not willing to cooperate; view of thepublic – the police are only punishing, othercooperation is not beneficial for them. On one hand,police are the first assistants in solving problems,on the other – uncertainty of the public on whatthe police are dealing with every day in ensuringand increasing the sense of security for everybody.

• Inability of police to prevent offences by largelyconcentrating their efforts on reacting the momenta problem occurs.

• Low level of police support to victims of offences.

• Concentrating on statistical data as the onlycriteria for police work assessment, withoutexplaining to the public how those affect the senseof security of every person.

• Low level of identification of district officers intheir service territories, especially the cities.

• Lack of public understanding of everyday goalsof the police, i.e. the local public was not aware ofthe goals of everyday work of police, often suchgoals did not even include the topical problems andthe needs of local community.

• Police as military force, which is not active inintroducing democratic methods of police work totake care of the people’s quality of life in Latvia.3

The State Police does not have a modern formulationof its mission and strategy which would provide foradditional value to police functions and goalsmentioned in the law On Police in performance oftheir everyday work.

The project team believes that targeted and gradualintroduction of new working methods is required tofacilitate changes and achieve results in developmentof democratic police. No progressive policy planningdocument will be implemented in practice if the ideasexpressed therein will not be supported by the majorityof police staff; it is also not possible to attain systemicchanges in police departments and everyday police workif those are not supported on the management level.

New approaches to and solutions of the problems related

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1. Obtaining Public Confidence –What to Do and Why

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to organising the police work were tried out and assessedby performing particular and targeted activities withinthe Talsi pilot project. It is important to:

1) regularly monitor the public trust in police, assesspublic satisfaction with services provided by thepolice, also it is equally important to learn the needsand problems of population in the serviced territoryin terms of security;

2) clarify the possibilities and needs of participation ofthe public, including municipality and otherinstitutions in solving security problems within thelocal territory;

3) explain everyday work of police to the public, makethe police work planning documents available toevery representative of the public;

4) show the examples of good practice in the field ofpreventive work with adults;

5) implementtraining of police staff on the issues relatedto community policing in pilot areas;

6) discuss new police work assessment criteria amongthe police by increasing the importance of preventionwork.

A three-year project and some pilot areas are not enoughto attain systemic and permanent changes in the methodsof police work in Latvia. It is enough, however, to learnthe first lessons and draw conclusions on introductionof community policing methods in post-Soviet policeunits. Targeted use of community policing methods hasbeen performed by police in Europe and other places inthe world for several decades already4 and they arerecognised as currently most effective in managing local,often multi-cultural, populations with diverse needs.Presumably, the State Police would have no objectionsin becoming a modern security force of the 21st centurywhich may be proud of not only modern technicalequipment, but also of the mission, values and style ofpolice work as an organisation.

Considering the experience of Talsi pilot project it should

be concluded that the first tasks to accomplish in everypolice department will be the following:

• representatives of police should approach thepopulation in the serviced area and clarify thesecurity problems they are facing and the unsafeplaces in the vicinity;5

• the obtained results of survey should be widelypresented and discussed with the local public or itsrepresentatives;

• police should undertake solving particular problemsindicated by the public and should clearly definewhat the police shall and shall not do, as well aswhat the police are able to do itself and what canbe done only in cooperation with other partners(the first work plan intended for the public wasdeveloped in the Talsi department);6

• police should regularly inform the local public aboutthe work done;

• while implementing prevention projects, police staffshould engage in various community activities;

• police staff training should be performed withrespect to skills required for implementing thecommunity policing approach – cooperation,communication, presentation, conflict solving andother skills;7

• targeted and proactive cooperation with local mediashould be effected.

In short, the success of Talsi department is characterisedby the police staff going out of the office, addressing thepublic and clarifying the problems, clear andunderstandable determination with respect to work tobe done, (re)solution of defined problems and provisionof feedback on completed work.

Prevention not only in words, but also in practice isequally important as crime detection is. In the case ofthe pilot project, the activities are planned andimplemented for the purpose of introducing community

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policing methods, and it is perceived as the main task.Of course, one can find a well-implemented preventionproject in each department, but most often the preventionactivities are related to minors and juveniles, neglectedadult supervision or dangerous areas unattended. Isprevention more important than Tomcat Rdis, BeaverBruno, police raids or advertising campaigns? Is it moreimportant than public demonstration of police transport,dog service, motorcycles, horses and/or other specialdevices? The adult public, the population of particularvicinity, was addressed during the project Promotion ofCrime Prevention through Community Policing in TalsiPolice Department.

The 3-year activities of the Talsi pilot projectdemonstrated quantitatively assessable improvementsin the following fields:• decrease in registered offences by 28.2%• decrease in registered number of theft by 26.8%

• the percentage of the population who know theirdistrict officer has increased by 25%

• the percentage of the population who believe thatpolice work has improved by 26%

• the percentage of the population who believe thatthe police are successfully providing for order andsecurity at their place of residence increased by11%

• the percentage of the population who believe that attheir place of residence the police are well aware ofthe problems the local population is worried aboutincreased by 13%

• the percentage of the population who believe thatat their place of residence the police are involvingthe population in solving security issues increasedby 8%

• the sense of security during the dark hours of dayhas increased by 9%8

1 Various projects were implemented by the Latvian Human Rights Centre and The Public Policy Centre Providus (for more information about these organisations and studies performed by them see http://www.humanrights.org.lv and http://www.providus.lv).

2 For example, establishment of the Public Security Advisory Council in the Ministry of Interior, the SP meetings with representatives of NGOs,cooperation projects of NGOs and the SP, joint training activities, etc.

3 Until now (since regaining independence of Latvia) the State Police does not have a development strategy plan and it has not defined itself as a democratic police service aimed at the public.

4 For example, introduction of community policing in the Netherlands was started in 1979.5 See more in the chapter „Clarifying the needs of population: types and methods”.6 See more in the chapter Using the Data of Surveys in Police Work Planning.7 See more in the chapter Educating the Staff.8 Accurate statistical data on changes during the period from 2009 to 2011 is available in the Annex Assessment of Police Work in Talsi Department

in 2009–2011.

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ommunity policing is used worldwide, butunderstanding of the Community Policingterm varies in different countries. „If youwould ask 100 people what the community

policing is, then you would get 100 different answers.”9

There is also a continued discussion about theunderstanding of this philosophy and its application invarious cultures of the world, which is not always assimple and understandable as it was in old democracies.10

However, irrespective to various opinions and theories,public support of police work has been sought for longand it has been admitted that community policing is aprocess which continues its development in line withtime and topical requirements of the public.

Tom Potter, former Chief of Portland Police, is believed tobe the founder of community policing philosophy. Hedeveloped basic principles of this philosophy at the timewhen he was walking the beat as a young policeman.Others believe that the source of this tradition lies in nineprinciples of modern police work which were defined byRobert Peel approximately one hundred and fifty yearsago. Repeated discussion on importance of communitypolicing became topical after the terror acts in the UnitedStates of America and Europe, when it became apparentthat acquiring and summarising information on an earlystage may be a very useful tool allowing the police andother law enforcement services to duly eliminate the threatof radicalism and terrorism. Also the assassinations ofpublically known people (for example, assassination ofthe director Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands) and riotsand acts of vandalism (for example, the events in GreatBritain in summer 2011) make the police services lookfor even new ways to control the situation in the field ofpublic security. The situations in various countries and

regions are, of course, different and also the models ofpolice work in the modern society are called and interpreteddifferently: police work in democratic society, police workaccording to human rights principles, community policing,problem-oriented police work, vicinity police work, policework based on the needs of population, value-based policework and other ways how modern and effective policework methods are understood throughout the world.11

The public has changed and continues to change, and thepolice should follow such changes. The issue of variousgroups of public is especially topical at the moment – forthe purpose of police being able to control the securitysituation in the vicinity, an appropriate approach to eachgroup is required. Community policing methods arebecoming increasingly popular throughout the worldbecause representatives of police become more aware ofthe contradiction between what they are doing and whatthey should do according to the public opinion. Thoughthe police are performing well and in a professionalmanner, and are succeeding in catching criminals anddetecting offences, the public is not satisfied with policework and has difficulties in understanding its importance.Therefore, the aspects which are important in everydaylife of people and which increase the sense of security atthe place of residence should be emphasised more in thepolice work.

This manual strives to find the answer on how communitypolicing is understood by State Police of Latvia and alsohas a closer look at the experience of the project partner,the Czech Republic Police, in solving the above issues.The experience of both countries in recent times is similar;after the collapse of the communist regime, the police ofeach country have tried to find ways to improve its publicimage. Various types of projects related to issues of

2. The Standards CharacterisingDemocratic Police Organisation

2.1. The Community Policing Philosophy

C

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cooperation between the police and the public had alreadystarted in 2000 in the Czech Republic, and have beenmainly the initiative of non-governmental organisations.12

The new Czech Police Law adopted in 2009 has becomean important tool for effective cooperation with localcommunities. Because the introduction of communitypolicing philosophy is a continued process, active workis being continued in seeking the best solutions for

improving police work, especially in Prague, the capitalof Czech Republic. It was believed for a long time in Latviathat these duties were largely performed by the districtofficer, however the opposite become apparent quite oftenduring the project; police staff were often overloaded withpaperwork and has no time remaining for visiting thepopulation to understand their opinion on local securityproblems.

9 Community Policing Explained: A Guide for Local Governments. [Lead Author Gayle Fisher-Stewart]. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2007. (Available at: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/Publications/cp_explained.pdf)

10 For more information on the Community Policing approach and understanding in different countries see, for example, Ellison G. Fosteringa Dependency Culture: The commodification of community policing in a global Marketplace. (Available at:http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1816751), Friedmann R. R. Community Policing: Some Conceptual andPractical Considerations. (Available at: http://www.cjgsu.net/initiatives/considerations.htm), etc.

11 For more information see Boer M., Pyo C. Good Policing, Instruments, Models and Practices. Asia – Europe Democratisation and Justice Series. [Editors: Sol Iglesias and Ulrich Klinsgshirn]. Asia – Europe Foundation, Hanns Seidel Foundation Indonesia, 2011, p. 17 – 27 (Available at: http://www.asef.org/images/docs/Good%20Policing%20-%20Instruments,%20Models%20and%20Practices%20-%20FINAL.pdf)

12 See the attached recommendations for the police of Czech Republic developed by the Czech non-governmental organisation Pro-Police 21 Recommendations for Uniformed Police in the 21st Century.

he ways community policing philosophyis being integrated into the work ofEuropean and the US police services,legislation and value systems are

different too. For example, in Belgium these values havebeen fixed as value pillars which are based on: 1) Externalorientation, 2) Partnership, 3) Problem Solving,

4) Empowerment, 5) Accountability. Irish police haveformulated its mission as follows: „Community focusedpolice service, proactively contributing to a safe andsecure society.”13

Police services of those countries which have recognisedcommunity policing methods and integrated those intheir work long ago continue to assess the most effectiveways for formulating this philosophy, for example,community policing model was developed in theNetherlands in 2006 by calling it „Police in Evolution”.

In Finland and Sweden more attention is paid to nationalsecurity strategy and cooperation between various publicinstitutions. The community policing strategy of Finland,which was developed in 2007, foresees modernising theabove principles according to the requirements of the21st century by especially considering the processes inthe European Union Member States and the HagueProgramme.14 Working with the public has been definedas a priority in the strategy, it has also been incorporatedinto various legal acts setting forth and obliging vastcooperation between various public institutions. Becausethe Finnish police have one of the highest ratings inEurope, the strategy also sets forth the task for theFinnish police to maintain the existing indicators.15 Oneof the basic principles of Finnish police work is also theimportance of a possible early interference, namelyprevention, in the police work.

Police of Sweden pay special attention to integratingnational minority, immigrant and socially isolated groupsinto society and security issues in the cities, as well asto inter-disciplinary prevention of hate crimes.

In the opinion of Czech specialists, community policingis a combination of police work strategy and philosophywhich is based on the conviction that public involvement,cooperation and support may better facilitate crimecontrol, because the traditional techniques are notproviding the expected effect. The public may help byindicating the reasons for its concerns and insecurity,and by attracting the attention of police to topicalproblems. The comparatively new Czech Police Lawadopted in 2009 also strengthens the principles of policeand public cooperation as well as permits entering intocooperation agreements.

It is set forth in regulatory acts of the Belgian policethat community policing principles apply to all policestaff. Thus, the affiliation of staff of all police servicesto community policing methods and the responsibilityfor implementation of these methods in their everydaywork, irrespective of the office held and work specificsin the organisation, is especially emphasised.

Until commencement of this project, the value system,mission and development vision of the State Police hasnot been formulated in Latvia in a modern manner. Tobegin such tradition, the staff of Talsi police departmentchose their slogan: „We are here for your security!” Apositive example was also provided by the State PoliceChief Order Police Authority Prevention Board whichgave the work motto „Our work – for your security!”Unfortunately, until now these slogans have only beenused in the context of the project and the preventionwork, and have not been fixed in either official documentsof the State Police strategy.

The mission and the vision have a much deeper andmore essential role inside the organisation and withrespect to its public image as it may seem initially. It isimportant for the public to know and understand those.It should also be noted that a clear formulation of thepolice mission and development vision wouldsignificantly facilitate the work of public relationsspecialists in developing the police image.

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T2.2. The Value System and Organisation Philosophy

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Regional reform of the State Police was implementedduring the project period; it was introduced as of 1September 2009, and significantly changed the dailyroutine in police departments. Talsi police department,which was the initial pilot site of the project, became adepartment of the second category with immediatesubordination to Kurzeme Regional Authority. It shouldbe regretfully admitted that the territorial reform did not,unfortunately, include the much needed changes in workphilosophy and planning of the organisation which shouldbe performed according to the interests of the population.No document is available so far in which the effectivenessof the reform would be evaluated and the assessment ofthese processes by the departments’ staff would beprovided. During the project, we often met with the desireof staff to get more involved in planning, to express theiropinion and suggestions.

According to the results of the police staff surveyperformed, within the project in 2011, the staff are less

satisfied with the planning of police work – 39% of staffwould expect improvements in this field. The State Police,as a place of work, satisfies 76% of staff while 24% arenot satisfied with their place of work. One third of surveyedpolice staff is, unfortunately, within a group of high risk,because they would quit their current job if there wouldbe an option to do a similar job for similar remuneration.Most of the staff is not satisfied with their remuneration– 86% believe that their remuneration does not correspondto the investment. While answering the questions relatedto the implemented reform and work organisation, 38%of the respondents note that their ideas and suggestionsare not valued in the organisation and only 55% believethat the department management provides informationon decisions made during the process.

Discussion on changing the work organisation and stylehas begun on the State Police management level as well,which allows for hoping that further development of theState Police will be positive.

13 For more information, visit the Irish police homepage http://www.garda.ie/.14 During the presidency of the Netherlands (July-December 2004) the Member States agreed on the draft perennial programme The Hague

Programme: Strengthening Freedom, Security and Justice in the European Union. The aim of this programme is to define the main joint goals of the European Union in security and justice issues which should be attained within a specified period.

15 As indicated by Eurobarometer, the level of trust in Finnish police reaches 90%.

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olice services in Europe are not isolatedand they try to learn from each other, andto use the examples of best practices.Notwithstanding different names and

division of functions between the structural units invarious countries, a modern police service is characterisedby: 1) an idea which is based on joint responsibility forsecurity; 2) a decentralised, open and effective organisationwith the appropriate organisational culture; 3) anorganisation which uses the problem-solving methodologyin practice, reacts to public processes and the so-calledsignal crimes; 4) an organisation which is visible andaccessible, and which has its range of trusted cooperationpartners and special skills.16

A modern police service has a clearly formulated mission,vision and goals of the organisation which are understoodby all staff. This is the factor uniting various police unitsirrespective of their daily functions. Every staff memberknows and is able to name the priorities set forth by theorganisation for the particular period and the values ofhis/her police service.

For example, the Irish police have an action plan whichdefines strategic priorities, including the manner in whichcommunity policing shall be implemented and embodied,how it will be fixed in internal police documents andpractice, on the level of training throughout the policeservice. It is a praised practice that any staff memberpasses special training prior to promotion by obtainingor improving abilities and skills required for performanceof functions of a higher ranking officer. Integral parts ofsuch training are the issues of models for cooperationwith the public which should be directly used within theparticular new office held.

Special attention is also paid to the internal policy of theorganisation which sets forth that management supportsand rewards the best staff successfully using the problemsolving methods in their work. In both the United Kingdomand the Republic of Ireland there is continued supportprovided to the offence prevention schemes which are also

wide-known and recognised internationally:Neighbourhood Watch, Community Alert, Business Watch.

Such cooperation initiatives have only been begun inLatvia; they are mainly the initiatives of civil societywhich are not coordinated on the state level. Accordingto statistical data, more than 66% of the Latvian populationwould be prepared to keep an eye on their neighbour’sproperty during his absence as well as believe that theyare partially responsible for their security themselves.This means that, by properly educating publicrepresentatives, the police have vast possibilities to receivesupport from the population.

A voluminous project was started in Stockholm, Swedenin 2006 that initially provided for establishing the so-called stations or police stopping points with the purposeof being closer to the population of particular vicinity.Fifteen stations were established initially, and elevenmore later on. There were 4 – 6 policemen in each ofthem who were specially trained to work with thepopulation. The customer service premises are simple,no presence of special security measures is felt there andpower relations are not demonstrated; staff of the stationsare not involved in enforcement/interference operationsin the particular vicinity. The main purpose for establishingsuch stations was to minimise crime and the involvementof youth in criminal groups as well as to raise the senseof security for the population. Regular meetings with thepublic provided the opportunity to acquire vast informationabout the criminal situation in the particular district andeven helped to resolve grave offences in individual cases,as well as made (or even provided an opportunity for)police work staff with people who could provide additionalinformation on the eventual offence easier. Swedish policeare also actively use the local crime prevention councilswhich involve the leaders and seniors of national minoritycommunities.

Police of the Netherlands have especially adjusted thecustomer service premises to be visitor-friendly, thusfacilitating their desire to approach the police with

2.3. Practical Application of the Police Value System

P

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information in the event of minor offences, too, or tosimply discuss any topical issue. Unlike in Latvia, peoplein the Netherlands also turn to police if they want onlyto provide information or notify of a minor offence, forexample, a stolen bicycle. No criminal procedure isinitiated in the Netherlands, but the police record suchfacts and enter the information into the database, thefunctioning of which is ensured by other state and non-governmental organisations.

Since 2000, the police of Amstelland (Amsterdam, theNetherlands) have organised the work by assigning theneighbourhood police officers, the NPOs, who have goodknowledge of their territory and the security issues inevery area. The Neighbourhood police officer (hereinafter– the NPO) service began operations in 2000 with theaim of acquiring the trust of the local public and topossibly learn more information about the area. Onlyexperienced staff is approved for these positions andthey have the highest officer ranking (nine). They mustorganise the work based on the principle that 80% oftime is devoted to working with the population and 20%to the work in the office. The NPO is elected for fouryears. After four years of work in the particular territory,he/she is transferred to another location. In individualcases, the NPO may obtain permission to continueworking in the particular territory for two more years.Such staff is relieved from duties related to documentprocessing, which is done mainly by other service staff.

The territory serviced by one NPO includes approximately2,500–5,000 residents. There are 228 NPOs in theterritory of Amsterdam in total. Residents of 177nationalities live in the region, 22% of them are youth.The acquired data are used for police work planning andfor cooperation with other state institutions – youthcentres, social services, etc.

The Amstelland police service creative team (comprisedof five people) is developing a special area map andsoftware available to all staff. Such software includesinformation about the problems, people, cooperationpartners and issues to be solved in the particular area.The software is widely available; it may be used by policestaff of all services, including the police cooperationpartners in other state institutions. In such a way, theNPOs reflect the results of their work in gathering andsummarising information that may appear useful forother services.

The example discussed above proves that communitypolicing works in big cities as well and that the argumentof these methods working better in rural regions is quiteconditional, because everything depends on organisingthe work in the particular structural unit. Large territorymay as well be divided into smaller territories and theresponsible police officer may be assigned to it, as wellas various modern ways and technologies forcommunication with the population may be used.

16 Bunar N. Community Policing – issues and perspectives. CEPOL course 2/2010.

he introduction of community policingmethods into police work affects manyissues which initially do not even seemrelated, for example, to successfully use

the information possessed by the area or district policeofficer and knowledge about the particular territory, astrictly defined cooperation and information exchangesystem within the organisation is required. It has beenproven since 2000, when Amstelland police service startedintroducing the neighbourhood police officers, that suchan approach not only improves the image of police in theeyes of the local public, but also provides valuableinformation to other police units and cooperation partners.If the information exchange system operates successfullywithin the organisation, then all the staff feels equallyresponsible for combating crime.

The philosophy of a modern police service foresees regularinformation exchange within the organisation, i.e. frombottom to top and from top to bottom, meetings of lower andcommanding level staff, making decisions important forthe organisation by means of discussions and negotiations,availability of information on the reasons for adopteddecisions, etc.17 Unfortunately, it is not a common practicein many police services of the new European Union MemberStates. Especially important here are the internal internetcommunication networks as well as the organisationmanagement practices which ensure that the subordinatestaff understand the decisions made by higher police staffand the activities of lower-ranked police staff arising fromthose. An indicator of good management is also a numberof those suggestions by lower-ranking police staff whichhave been supported by higher-ranking police staff andhave been used in the work of the organisation.

There are 35 people working in the public relations fieldin the police service of Amsterdam City, which has a serviceterritory similar to Riga (where only 2 people work in thepublic relations field). Media relations are handled similarto Latvia, while special attention is paid to internalcommunication. A paper of the organisation is published

in electronic format on a monthly basis; it is available toeach staff member and topicalities, news, information, etc.of the organisation are published therein. A summary isavailable in printed format, too. A free magazine is publishedevery two months and it is available to each staff memberof the organisation.

Part of the value system of the organisation is also a sloganof the service which is reflected on all documents as wellas in the meeting room and on the outer wall of the policebuilding. Modern technologies are used also, for example,the e-mail mailing lists with the addressees includingvarious police cooperation partners (hundreds ofaddressees). Those are used not only for distributingpreventive information, but also for purposes of crimedetection. Services for arranging various campaigns areextensively outsourced also, which are rarely used in Latviadue to financial and organisational considerations.

Strategies also foresee regular meetings with representativesof non-governmental organisations. Such meetings are notformal; they are oriented at solving particular problemsas well as ensuring regular feedback by providinginformation on solved security problems or situations. Aformal invitation to representatives of non-governmentalorganisations to a meeting once a year with a minimumchance to change or influence the content of documentsdiscussed cannot be deemed as a form of good cooperationwith the public. In this area, Latvia has had both successfuland less successful experiences. It is true that frequentchanges in the State Police management have a great effecton the existing processes, as result of which it is notpossible to finalise the initiated activities and introducethe plans.18 The situation on the municipality level is morepositive and inter-disciplinary cooperation is successfullyimplemented there by solving the issues of youthemployment, social isolation, unsafe place arrangementand others. It is important to follow the principle that showinitiative and approach the cooperation partners as wellas, if required, they are security experts on an inter-institutional level.

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2.4. Internal Communication in Foreign Practice

17 Policing in a Democratic Society: Is Your Police Service a Human Rights Champion? Council of Europe. Vienna : Austrian Ministry of the Interior, 2000, p. 30-34.

18 During three years of project implementation management of the State Police was changed four times.

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he number of registered and detectedoffences is used by the State Police as oneof the main indicators of operationalresults. The current assessment system

(reporting system) is based on quantitative indicators ofthe police work. Detection ratio – those who have detectedmore than 30% have worked well, those less than 10% _badly. Work quality indicators are not counted. Allreporting forms in the State Police accept the results onlyas numeric values.

Quantitative indicators are assessed in their dynamics,i.e. the numeric indicators should decrease or increaseduring the report period compared to the previous reportperiod. Work productivity is assessed by considering thedecrease or increase of indicators during the report period(compared to the previous period), accordingly moreadministrative violation protocols should be drafted, morealcohol or drugs seized, more criminal proceduresdelivered for commencing prosecution, etc. While thereis such assessment system applied, it is not beneficialfor police staff to deal with the prevention of offences andother violations of law.

The reporting parameters do not correspond to the publicneeds. However, this is not the only negative aspect ofthe assessment system. For the purpose of preventing adecrease in the detected offence ratio, pretty often thepolice are trying to avoid accepting applications oncommitted offences. People who approach the police withwhat, in the staff opinion, are applications with no prospect,for example, on the theft of a purse or a mobile telephone,battery or similar offence, are politely rejected with ajustification that there is no point in writing the applicationbecause nothing will be detected anyway, etc. To avoidsuch situations, in foreign countries such misdemeanoursare simply accounted, including the registration of lostitems in the database for later use, if such items are found,for example, in relation to another offence.

Refusal to accept the application and refusal to considerit is, most likely, one of the most essential factorsdiscrediting the police. There are various possibilities tomanipulate the figures in the current reporting system.It can be seen best if reviewing the results at the end ofthe report periods – the transfer of clear cases to thefollowing month and concentrating on the detection ofless grave offences, etc. are evident in March, June,September and December.

In Latvia, combating crime and administrative violationshas turned into the fight for figures. While striving forhigher quantitative indicators, the tasks for protecting aparticular individual and the public as a whole are setaside in everyday police work.

The population does not care for formal indicators ofimprovement in combating crime. A sense of securityand confidence that police will protect them, if required,is much more important. The persons, whose applicationson theft had not been accepted or who had faced inactivityof police or negligence of staff will have sceptical viewson announcements that thousands of property offenceshave been detected.

It is not possible to achieve improvement in police workwithout changing the current reporting system. Until theexisting indicators of police work assessment is sufficientfor the public, the police staff and management will notbe interested in increasing effectiveness of their actualwork.

It is, of course, not possible to get along withoutquantitative indicators in the police work, they are alsorequired for work planning and prevention; however itshould also be made possible to introduce otherassessment criteria, for example, assessment of localpolice work by the population, representatives ofmunicipalities and independent experts.

2.5. Community Policing Assessment Criteria

2.5.1. Criteria for Assessing the Police Work in Latvia

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he issue of community policingassessment criteria is the mostcomplicated one, because, as admitted byexperts, „it is more of a process than a

product”.19 It is characterised by decentralisation andensuring two-way communication between the policeand the public, and is related to a change of the systemof values within the organisation and development ofnew organisational culture.

Like in Latvia, in other countries the performers ofpreventive work have also had to face the views that,unlike the work of criminal police, prevention work iseasier or less important. While in countries and serviceswhere police work with the public is valued, this workis recognised as equally important or even moreimportant, because it is the one which develops theimage of organisation in modern public and duly preventspossible violations of law. It should also be emphasisedthat in the event of problems, it is easier to cooperatewith the partner one has regularly exchanged informationwith earlier and there is no need for establishing newcontacts to solve a particular problem. A good examplehere is the police service of Amstelland area (theNetherlands) mentioned in the previous chapters, whichensured the successful exchange of information betweenthe services and succeeded that, with time, its work wasalso valued by representatives of the criminal police,because the order police staff which knew the area andits population well provided valuable information to thecriminal police.

Upon summarising foreign experience, the project teamascertained that results of preventive work may andshould be accounted and assessed. The suggested criteriafor assessment of preventive work are the following:

• meetings with the population and cooperationpartners (number);

• security problems solved in an inter-disciplinarymanner (for example, decreased number of pick-

pocketing, decreased alcohol consumption amongyoung people, etc.);

• areas arranged or improved with the support of thepopulation and state and municipality institutionswhich had been recognised as unsafe earlier;

• positive comments and gratitude for the police workby the population and public organisations;

• increase of the police rating;

• statistical data which show improvements in policework with the population;20

• information entered into databases and provided toother police services;

• identification of the police officer responsible forthe territory by the population;

• number of contacts, including e-mail addresses,available to the police officer of the vicinity andwhich may be used if necessary;

• cooperation agreements entered into with variouspartners.

Of course, along with the aforementioned police workassessment criteria, there are also the so-called traditionalcriteria for police work assessment. Thus, for example,the police work assessment criteria defined by Ostravapolice (Czech Republic) are as follows:

• crime level ratio to the number of population (per1,000 residents);

• number of cases delivered for prosecution or furtherinvestigation;

• number of cases returned for gathering additionalevidence or elimination of mistakes;

• number of complaints about the police staff andtheir justification;

• number of cases investigated and detected within

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2.5.2. Criteria for Assessing the Police Work: Foreign Experience

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the priorities defined by the state (for example, drugcombating cases and detected violations);21

• finding missing persons;

• activities of local level, good references from partners,meetings and consultations with the population;

• negative examples or events which have affectedthe police image (for example, violations of trafficrules committed by police staff; escape of arrestedpersons from the infirmary and other events).

It is important for the work assessment not to be formaland to appear significant to the police officers themselves,because only in such case can one expect improvementof indicators and the desire to perform the preventionwork every day. Reward for the work done is also

important, for example, describing the problems solvedor unsafe places in the public annual report, writs ofgratitude, etc.

The issues of assessing the results of work are oftensolved and fixed in police services by including those inthe law or by issuing internal regulations. For example,in the Czech Republic, the above criteria are set forth inthe internal legal act, while the importance of preventivework in police work is discussed in the Police Law. It isbelieved in the Czech Republic that the order police staffresponsible for the respective territory should spend50% of working time meeting the population. While aseparately distinguished category in the police database,work with the public, allows the police staff to recordthe work done in this field and explain it in more detail.

19 Hartnett S. M., Skogan W. G. Community Policing, Chicago Style. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 5.20 See more on the importance of survey and its use in police work in the chapter Clarifying the Needs of Population: Types and Methods.21 An obvious relation exists between the priorities defined by the state and the work assessment criteria – if the issues are defined as state

priority, then they are also specially accounted.

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hen the project activities were planned,special attention was devoted totraining the police staff. The mainissues of training were related to:

• improving the police staff communication skills(customer-targeted communication in police work,communication with various age groups and varioustypes of persons);

• mastering modern community policing methods(foreign experience of inter-disciplinary cooperation,exploration and involvement of cooperation partners,task assignment, use of public surveys in police workplanning);

• personal growth and support of police staff(professional self-assessment, stress management incrisis conditions, value system of the organisation).

During the seminars, the project team tried to understandthe desires and needs of the department staff as well asto encourage continually seeking the required informationindividually. To the largest extent, the knowledge acquiredat the seminars was recognised as useful for work as wellas various proposals were expressed with respect to thesubjects, which would need to be included into theprogramme when further training is organised. Basedon the request of police staff, not only those seminarswhich were planned in advance were moderated duringthe project, but some additional activities were performedthat were aimed at training and informing the staff (atotal of nine seminars on various subjects were organisedduring the course of the project, 3 of them beinginternational ones).

When the question about the most valuable gain fromparticipation in the seminar on community policingmethods and the Czech experience was answered, themain comments were as follows:• how to earn the partners’ trust in the joint solution

of security problems and how to make first contact;• exploring problematic areas within the territory;• performance of preventive work not only with respect

to a person, but to the event as a whole;• cooperation of the institution with non-governmental

organisations; based on what and how it should bedeveloped;

• a possibility to learn about prevention projectsimplemented in other countries and project ideas(Stop 24, Police hand, Senior project, Policeman ofyour street etc.22);

• a possibility (which is provided to department staffalso) of meeting the performers of „real work” inother countries and learn about their experience inperson;

• a possibility of meeting the police staff of other regionsor departments on a Latvian scale.

With respect to communication skills, the participantsexpressed the desire to continue such seminars, especiallyin relation to the following fields of activity:• some participants admitted that they lack practical

communication skills when going out of the usualpolice environment to meet cooperation partners inother institutions and indicated that it has not beenusual practice so far. It was a surprise to the projectteam though, because it seemed that the police staffshould have no doubt about his/her ability to addressthe public directly. The situation is worse in largecities, because many policemen have never been tothe municipality of the territory they serve. Not allstaff members are prepared to go and address peoplein the street, in a supermarket or during a publicevent;

• communication skills when speaking to the publicor in front of the cameras;

• establishing contacts and communication skills whenworking with the population that are not offenders;

3. Educating the Staff

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• „difficult” groups were especially identified – mentallyill ones, drug addicts, old people, repeatedly convictedfelons, victims of violence, etc.

Irrespective of the content of training offered, it was oftenasked for the key to all situations, which is not possibleto implement, unfortunately. Training cannot provideanswers to all questions in all situations. Expanding thepsychologist service in the State Police should rather beconsidered here. Consultation of a psychologist shouldbe available in each department, because more newproblems arise during daily work with the populationwhich need to be solved by both the victims and the policestaff itself. Many staff members expressed the desire toreceive feedback and support from the professionals, atleast by discussing the situation and their activities.

Their part during implementation of the project wasplayed also by political processes and the tragic eventsof January 2011, when a shooting between the policementook place in Jïkabpils.23 These events motivated theevaluation of staff selection and training issues in theState Police as well as attracted increased attention toevery disciplinary trespass committed by any of the policestaff. The fact that the colleagues in all regions of Latvialived through the event as much as the public did wasreferred to in mass media very little. Special psychologicalassistance was offered only to the staff of the particularpolice units (Jïkabpils, Tukums departments and unitAlfa) and the victims, but there was lack of support forthe staff of services in other municipalities and to theState Police service as a whole. Reacting to the eventsthe project team offered a seminar Communication skillsand professional self-assessment during which the policestaff had a chance to discuss what had happened with aprofessional psychologist, who, to the extent their ability,provided the answers to topical questions and skills tolook for in internal resources to overcome such situations.In light of these events, it revealed even clearer that thereis lack of support in such situations for the middle andhigher level staff also, because both responsibility andthe ability to explain the events to their subordinates isrequired of them.

During the period of the project implementation, regionalreform was performed in the State Police, too. As a resultof this, regional authorities were established (five regionalauthorities commenced their work as of 1 September2009). Talsi District Police Authority became a Talsi (2ndcategory) department of Kurzeme Regional Authority.The team which had worked for a long time wasconditionally divided into two parts – with the immediatemanagement in LiepÇja (Operative Management Unit,Traffic Supervision Company, etc.) and the immediatemanagement in Talsi (district officers, inspectors for casesinvolving minors and criminal police inspectors). Theabove reform was the largest in the history of the renewedState Police; unfortunately it was performed in a hurryand without a well-considered change management. Alongwith the regional reform the police staff remunerationand social guarantees were decreased significantly, too.As a result of these events, an opinion strengthened inperception of the police staff that the reform wasimplemented solely for the purpose to legally decreasethe staff remuneration rather than to improve the policework. Many feel undervalued and not heard – the policestaff would be glad to get involved into discussions onthe mission, goals and development vision of theorganisation.

The professional self-assessment training was organisedboth in Talsi and Riga. It was discovered in due courseof the project that the staff of Talsi police department feelunderstood by the local public and is more valued, besidesthey feel like an integral part of the community. This maybe explained both by the fact that in little towns the policestaff is more integrated in the local public and by theactivities started during the project in facilitating mutualdialogue with local population. Unfortunately, in Riga thestaff must invest much greater energy into organising ameeting with representatives of various groups of thepopulation, because in big cities people identify themselvesless with a particular neighbourhood – moving aroundthe city is constant. Therefore, the dissatisfaction withtheir social status and the level of stress is greater forthe city police staff. The above is characterised well bythe material written in the staff working groups.24 The

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staff members admitted that it is necessary to improvetheir self-assessment, emotional stability and level ofknowledge. The option of larger involvement of the publicin solution of security issues, thus receiving greater trustfrom the public, was indicated as a positive aspect. Suchtraditional things as law enforcement, professional prestigeand life experience were mentioned as well. Unfortunately,the issues of stress management and self-aid skills arecurrently reviewed in the State Police College programmesinsufficiently.

In the training procedure within the project, specialattention was paid to developing practical skills of thepolice staff by using situational role-playing and practicalexamples. Though the largest part of the staff haveacquired education by graduating from the Police Academyof Latvia25 and the State Police College, it has beenconcluded that many of communication skills requiredin police work have been acquired by them only uponcommencing real work in the State Police or learned fromtheir colleagues. Unfortunately, due to a lack of time andnumber of police staff to be trained, the interest andneeds of participants in the seminars offered within theproject could be satisfied only partially. It should beconcluded that it is required to plan for regular policestaff training within several years by allocating sufficienttime and resources to it. Training of staff is currentlybeing provided by the State Police College26, but it wouldbe good to involve also the NGOs and independent expertswhich could provide the police staff with the outsider’sview and help to find the answers to topical issues in aninter-disciplinary view. It would be especially beneficialon the level of municipality departments, because manycooperation partners would be glad to get involved in thepolice training process even for free, within their directduties or individual projects. This would allow using thedays of training in police departments (such are foreseenat least twice a month) to their fullest extent.

There is a topical issue related not only to the volume oftraining offered, but also with respect to the developmentof such sciences and criminology, forensic and police lawin modern understanding, because research projects andpractice analysis at a higher level will be required sooner

or later, but the University of Latvia offers such at themoment. For the purpose of improving effectiveness ofpolice work, the current criminal procedure should beurgently assessed from the quality perspective, becausethe volume of documents and the work invested inpaperwork within criminal procedures is huge.

The project team drafted proposals for seminars of furthereducation. If the State Police wants to introduce thecommunity policing methods in its everyday work, thepossibility of mastering these training modules shouldbe made available to everybody who wants to start workingin the police service.

1. Module 1. Communication Theory andCommunication Skills in Working with VariousTarget Audiences.1.1. Police customer anatomy, establishing contact.1.2. Customers in the police work and communication

strategies.1.3. Difficult customers in the police work and

communication strategies.1.4. Active listening skills; questioning skills; first

aid (communication) in relations with the victim;delivering bad news.

1.5. Communication with cooperation partners.27

1.6. Performance skills; presentation skills; publicspeaking.

1.7. Media training and cooperation with media.1.8. Anger management and self-assistance.

2. Module 2. Problem Analysis and Solution in PoliceWork: Approaches and Methods.2.1. Problem identification by summarising

information and statistics available to police.2.2. Methods and approaches used for solving

problems: SARA, problem analysing triangle, etc.2.3. Involving the police cooperation partners and

assigning responsibilities.2.4. Ensuring feedback and informing the public on

the results attained.

3. Module 3. Methods for Involving Representativesof Local Public.3.1. Territory profile and characteristics of population.

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3.2. Various target groups – characteristics and needs; traditional ways of contact; learning the needs.

3.3. Local public leaders and establishing contacts.3.4. Multi-cultural approach and cooperation.3.5. Use of modern technologies and social networks

in police work.

4. Module 4. Prevention Project Planning,Implementation and Assessment.4.1. Finding out the needs – statistics available in

the country (not only the State Police), use of statistical data.

4.2. Generating ideas, attracting partners, selling the ideas to partners, attracting financing.

4.3. Drafting the project.4.4. Assessment of the impact and results of the

project.4.5. Project sustainability within the organisation

or beyond it.

5. Module 5. Police Work Planning and Reporting toLocal Public.5.1. Defining the State Police priorities; planning

mechanisms on national and local level.5.2. Foreign experience in defining the police work

priorities and reporting to local public.

5.3. Finding out the needs of population and cooperation partners – surveys, meetings, WorldCafe and other methods.

5.4. Using the clarified needs in police work planning.

5.5. Defining the goals and tasks (measurable, time-defined, etc.).

5.6. Reporting the work done to the public and partners.

6. Module 6. Community Policing Philosophy andTrends of Police Development in the World.6.1. Community policing philosophy: myths and

reality.6.2. Mission and vision of the organisation, foreign

experience in integrating the community policing methods.

6.3. Differences of community policing from problemsolving approach.

6.4. Police as service provider (for business purposes); a customer-oriented police work.

6.5. Work assessment criteria in modern police service.

6.6. Changing the working style of the organisationand principles of good management.

6.7. Importance of internal communication for existence of a democratic police service.

22 For more information about these projects see chapter Foreign Practice in Using the Problem Analysing Method: Example of Czech Police.23 On the morning of 25 January 2011, an unprecedented event in the history of State Police of Latvia took place in Jïkabpils. Five persons,

including four police staff members, tried to rob the gambling hall Fïnikss and to acquire the cashed funds. Local police staff reacted tothe incoming call immediately and arrived on the scene to detain the robbers. As a result of gunfire and detention, one of the Jïkabpilspolice staff members, who performed his duties in good faith, was killed and several others were injured. The event shocked the police staffand the population throughout the country and caused a lot of discussion on various aspects of police work, including the control andsupervision system, level of remuneration and professional self-assessment among the faithful police staff.

24 See Annex My strength, my weakness.25 At the end of 2009 the Police Academy of Latvia was liquidated. The issue of police science (for example, in the field of police law, forensic

and operative work) development is not clear at the moment, because no Latvian university has specialised in these issues so far.26 The State Police College offered several professional perfection courses in 2011: Professional ethics of the State Police staff and communication,

Psychological features in communication with mentally unbalanced individuals, The State Police staff communication culture and risks ofcorruption in communication with the road users, Protection of children’s rights, Psychological features of questioning the victim, Communicationfeatures in telephone conversations by the State Police staff, Activities of police staff in the events related to domestic violence, Personnelmanagement and media training.

27 It has been concluded in course of the project that the police staff are offered minimum training for working with the difficult customers,but nothing is said at all about cooperation with the so-called normal people or those who are not and, possibly, will never be offenders andwho do not want, or on the contrary – want to cooperate with the police, but do not know how to do so.

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4. The Values Characterising the Serviced Territoryor the Territory Profile (Department Passport)

he goal of community policing may becharacterised in a very brief manner –solving problems in cooperation with thepartners. To attain this goal, it is essential

to find out what the problems are and who are or may bethe partners of the police for solving those.

To make obtaining the above information for the policestaff easier, a support tool would be useful that wouldsummarise all information about the characteristics ofserviced territory, its history and development. It is mucheasier if there is a store of information available to lookinto; one does not have to research the territory everytime and look for the possible cooperation partners. Moreinformation about the territory is useful also at themoment when the problem once identified occurs againafter some time. It is worth knowing in such situationwhat solutions were used the previous time and whetherthose had been sufficiently effective.

At the moment, such support document should be thedepartment passport. Unfortunately, upon analysing theinternal regulation of the State Police, the regulations forperformance of service duties by the district officer andtheir annex „Department passport”28, it should beconcluded that the department passport is not performingits envisaged functions at the moment (it does notcharacterise the department territory and the populationof it). It is not clear why, in the age of informationtechnologies, such documents needs to be filled in byhand. At this moment, the time when information andsociety is changing very rapidly, is, in fact, not possible

to update or supplement the information entered into thedepartment passport in good quality, or to transfer it toa colleague in the event of change of the district officer.

The information entered into the department passportcurrently forms the list of institutions, companies,commercial objects, parking places, etc. located withinthe territory, but it does not describe the local public –its age, employment, level of income, sense of security,problems, public activity, etc. The department passportonly lists the persons potentially endangering security– maintainers of crime, degeneration, etc. grounds, huntingunions and wanted persons. The police have apparentlydefined the local public by looking at it through the prismof the institution and offender. However, the normal partof the public and the features describing it remain beyondthe view of police. If public support is expected andattempts are made to involve its members into ensuringpublic order, then it would only be natural to learn whoare the people that pay taxes to the municipality andabide with the law in the serviced territory, what aretheir strengths, and what problems they are facing.

The project team believes that the content of thedepartment passport should be reviewed and appendedwith more information about the public in the servicedterritory; it should be provided for as well that thedepartment passports are filled in and stored in electronicformat. Information which would be desirable to includewhile improving and developing the new form of thedepartment passport, was summarised in the course ofthe project.

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1. Information about the Local Population.

2. NGOs and Active Representatives of the Public Present in the Territory

Possible security and social problems of local territoryare possible to foresee by analysing the values describinglocal population. Summarised information may also beuseful in planning and organising various preventionprojects.

For example, the following information about thepopulation of the serviced territory should be clarifiedand codified:1) distribution of population by age, sex, nationality;2) changes in population numbers during recent 3_5

years;3) average income level per household;4) homeless persons and gathering places;5) number of people with low income (% to the total

population number);6) is mass movement of population into/out of the

territory evident (for example, during whichparticular months or for the purpose of working inany of the companies in the territory);

7) number of employed by sectors;8) changes in numbers of unemployed during recent

3_5 years (every month);9) changes in numbers of economically active

population during recent 5 years.

Household characteristics:1) number of individual houses, apartment buildings,

etc.;2) market values of household types;3) number, type, size, location of unfinished

constructions.Other characterising values: awards received (forexample, well-groomed village, street, courtyard), etc.

What the local problems are and how easy or hard it isto solve those is largely determined by the local public.Community policing researchers have concluded that astrong public is a prerequisite for strong communitypolicing work.29 A strong and united public is describedby the low rate of change in population, desire of peopleto make friends (neighbour networking), involvement intovoluntary activities (joint work, sports festivals, donationcollection, care for old people, coordinated looking afterminors, etc.), active NGOs, etc.

To fully describe the local public, the department passportshould be supplemented with information about the NGOspresent in the territory and leaders of the local public.Such information provides an idea as to what extent the

local public itself is prepared to unite and get organisedfor solving various problems. The more active the localpublic is, the easier it is for police to implement communitypolicing, because an active local public also cares for thesecurity issues of the vicinity.

The following information should be added to thedepartment passport:1) existing NGOs and fields of their activity;2) local public leaders;3) significant campaigns, projects;4) police and local public cooperation initiatives;5) advisory councils in which the representatives of

NGOs or the public participate (for example, in themunicipalities).

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4. Maintaining Contact with the Local Public

5. Work Plan of District Officers and Reporting to the Local Public.

3. Public Opinion on Security Issues.

Public understanding of security problems in the vicinitynot infrequently differ from official police statistics. Ifthe police really want to solve problems topical to localpopulation, they should learn the public opinion.

The following information should be added to thedepartment passport:1) population surveys conducted and their results;

2) public trust into police and other state/municipalinstitutions;

3) the clarified needs of the population relating topublic order and security;

4) fear and uncertainty of local population with respectto certain areas, for example, places where homelesspersons gather, dark streets, etc.

Community policing does not see accepting visitors inoffices as the only possibility of meeting with the public.It should be recognised that there is currently a smallnumber of people who would visit the department toprovide information or opinion on any security issues.Police should be the ones approaching the public. Thereis no unified model for maintaining contacts with thepublic, it is a creative process.

When analysing the territory of the department, it would

be useful to foresee the areas where meetings with thepopulation may be organised (for example, to conductsurveys, report about the work, for educational purposes,etc.). The experience of the Talsi pilot project shows thatsuccessful locations are: a supermarket, a fair, publicforum, etc. Main events and their timing should be notedin the department passport (for example, city festivalin July, fair in August, announcing the data of the surveyin the municipality hall in spring, etc.).

Local population and security problems identified by itdetermine the everyday work of the district officer tothe large extent. The topicalities are learned by meansof surveys or by meeting the population. For the purposeof the awareness of the population about how theinformation obtained from it is used, the territory officersshould develop a police work plan, listing 3–5 localterritory problems in a short and precise manner, theways for their solution and the cooperation partners.

Most often the population learns that the problem hasbeen solved at the moment it is eliminated, for example,some unsafe area is put in order by arranging for lightingand cutting the bushes there. However, it is advisable

to periodically provide a short summary (review) ofwork done by the police to the public, because the mutualrelations between the police and the public are improvedin such a way, the reputation of the police is improvedand the desire of the public to cooperate is strengthened.

It should be defined in the department passport howoften such plans need to be drafted and what thereporting period is. The first plan was prepared withinthe Talsi pilot project 3 years ago with reporting oncea year. Foreign practice is different – there are countriesin which the plans are drafted annually, while reportingis organised immediately after solving the particularproblem.

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The department passport should summarise not only thesecurity problems identified by the public and policeitself, but also their solutions. This would make it easierfor a district officer to prepare reports and reviews aswell as would allow for the convenient monitoring of theproblem dynamics, repetition30, etc.

There are countries in which security problems, peopleor unsafe places are included not only in the servicedterritory profiles, but are viewed (depicted) in ageographical section as well.31

The largest volume of the district officers’ work (especiallyin the cities) is currently formed by work related tocriminal procedures. Community policing methods requireanother way of work planning. When a new form ofdepartment passport is developed and new contentincluded in it, thought should be given to the issue ofdivision of time between the work with the public and

paperwork, and regular updating of information includedin the department passport should be provided for.

In the work planning process the police also face a lackof topical statistical data. There is a lack of well-coordinatedcooperation between the institutions, neither statisticaldata on characteristics of the population of the particularterritorial units nor the analysis on particular populatedareas and smaller territorial units are available to police.Difficulties in obtaining the above information shows thatmany institutions are not creating and summarisingstatistical indicators and are not using those while planningand analysing their work. This problem was not solvedwithin the project, but the project team believes that theState Police, while becoming an expert in coordinatingthe problem solutions, should initiate the discussion ofthe responsible institution representatives by raising theimportance of statistical data in everyday work.

6. Solutions of the Identified Problems.

28 Approved on 17 December 2010.29 Bunar N. Strong communities for strong community policing. CEPOL course 2/2011.30 For more information see Crime analysis in 60 steps / Ronald V. Clarke, John E. Eck; [translated by Aiga Veckalne]. Riga : State Police, 2011.

(Available at: http://www.vp.gov.lv/faili/sadalas/noziedzibas_analize_60_solos_gramata.pdf)31 There is a system Prominent operating in the Netherlands since 2010_2011 – a mapping of problems (and problematic people) identified (and

also solved) by the police and the public.

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he basis of community policing lies notonly in solving the problems incooperation with the partners, but alsoin learning the public opinion. One of theremarks with respect to community

policing heard by the project team most often is: „Whoelse do the police work for, if not the public!” One mayagree to such an allegation, but it should be noted thatthe State Police are not currently involved in learning thepublic’s opinion within the daily work planning. But howcan one work for the public without knowing its needsand without understanding whether the public opinionabout the police work is of any value in the eyes of policestaff and police management? A modern police force ischaracterised by police work assessment criteria, wherethe public assessment is similarly important as are thestatistical data on detected offences.

There are two kinds of surveys mainly used in policework assessment which differ as per their target groups:

1) learning the general prevailing opinion of thepublic with respect to both trust in police and othergeneral issues: accessibility, information, sense ofsecurity, etc. These surveys do not take into theaccount the fact whether the persons have had realcontact with police. The aim of police is to also obtainpositive references from those people who have nothad direct contact with the police, but have learnedabout its work from mass media, friends,acquaintances, etc.

2) learning the opinion of police customers or thosepeople who have had real contact with the police byproviding information, reporting an offence, etc. Themost significant police customers are the victims. Itis their assessment which reflects the quality of police

work in all aspects – on the crime site, during theprocess of investigation, by ensuring feedback on thecourse of the investigation, in provision for or offeringassistance during the period the victim requirespsychological, medical or legal support. In multi-cultural societies, the opinion of those representativesof the public becomes even more essential who arepotentially discriminated due to their ethnic originor skin colour, for example, the opinion of Africanpeople is analysed individually in the British police.

Usually the surveys (irrespective of their type) areconducted by the sociological research companies basedon the order by the police.

Along with the police work assessment it is important toalso learn about the sense of security level of the populationin the serviced territories, security problems and unsafeareas. This may be done by using various methods – bydistributing surveys, interviewing people, organisingdiscussions or meetings with the population, etc. Thereare no bad or good ways to learn the opinion of the localpopulation, it is essential to learn the opinion of allpopulation groups. Learning the opinion of retired persons,women (especially housewives) and youth is the easiest.It is more difficult to involve people of the economicallyactive age and those not fond of contacting the police, forexample, Roma or those who only spend the night in theparticular territory, but work elsewhere.

Prior to commencing the exploration of public opinion,it should be clarified what population groups reside inthe territory where they meet and where they are mostconveniently accessible, who are those group leadersthrough which most of the group members are accessible(it would be good if answers to all these questions couldbe found in the department passport).

5. Clarifying the Needs of the Population:Types and Methods

5.1. Population Surveys: Assessment of the Police Work andClarifying the Needs of the Population

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5.1.1. State Police Work Assessment Surveys within the Pilot Project

urveys for learning the public opinionwere organised throughout Latvia withinthe project once a year (a total of threesurveys). They were conducted by

professional sociological research companies selectedduring the procurement procedures. Both telephoneinterviews and personal interviews (by asking questionsto people in their place of residence) were used forperforming the surveys. The age of people interviewedranged from 18 to 74. Respondents were chosen randomly,38–60% of them had had contact with the police. Thesurveys were structured in such a way as to learn theopinion of population about police work in both Latvia asa whole and in the pilot area specifically. This allowedfor assessing the impact of the project and revealing howit had influenced change of opinion of the population inpilot areas.

The survey provided the answers to the followingquestions: To what extent do you trust the State Police?What are the main reasons for not trusting it? How informedabout the State Police work do you feel in general? Wouldyou be prepared to get involved in ensuring public orderand security at your place of residence? Do you know theState Police district officer within the department of whichyour place of residence is located – do you know his/hername, what he/she looks like? How safe or unsafe do youfeel in the street in the proximity of your place of residenceduring dark hours of the day? Are there any public orderor security problems in your place of residence which thepolice should pay more attention to? etc.

Respondents in the pilot areas of the project wereadditionally asked to evaluate the following allegations:Every person must get actively involved in solving securityproblems in his/her place of residence. I feel safe in myplace of residence. Police are easily accessible and availablein my place of residence. In my place of residence the policeare well aware of the security problems troubling the localpopulation. In my place of residence the police involve thepopulation in solving various security problems. In my place

of residence the police are successfully solving securityproblems troubling local population. If at all possible, Iavoid contacting the police.

Upon summarising the results of the surveys, two mythswere dispelled. First, the myth that the prestige of policeis low and people do not trust them. Results of the surveysshow the opposite – police enjoy comparatively greatpublic trust and the level of trust tends to increase. Trustin the State Police was expressed by 65% of the populationin 2009, by 68% in 2010, and by 69% in 2011. Trust inpolice has increased significantly during recent years,because, for example, only 45% of the population expressedtheir support to the SP in 2007.

The second myth which is especially popular among thepolice staff is that the public does not want to cooperatewith the police. In the survey of 2010 52% of the populationindicated that they were prepared to cooperate by gettinginvolved in maintaining public order. Also, 79% of thepopulation believed that they should get involved insolving security problems themselves. 67% of thepopulation alleged that the police are the ones not involvingthe population.

The high level of trust may have several explanations,including that the public wants to trust somebody; whilelooking for a security spot beyond itself, it has found asecurity guarantor in the State Police („You must trustsomebody!”, „Who else can you trust, if not the police!”).In many rural areas the police are the only institutionstill operating, because other social centres have beenclosed (schools, local hospitals, post offices, small shops,etc.). The population survey of 2011 showed that eventhe tragic events in Jïkabpils have not adversely affectedthe general assessment of police work.

While analysing the surveys, it should, however, beconcluded that public opinion and feelings with respectto the State Police work are controversial. For example,in 2009, the public had shown a comparatively high levelof trust and satisfaction (65%), but attention should be

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paid to the fact that 57% would gladly avoid contactingthe police and 56% do not feel aware of the police work.

When the obtained data on the situation in the countryand in the municipalities are compared, it is evident thatthe population in the municipalities feels more aware ofthe police work and its results, also the level of trust inpolice is higher there (68%_73%). Especially high indicatorsin 2011 were in Zemgale and Latgale (74%) as well as inKurzeme (73%).

The population which feels more aware about the policework express a greater desire to cooperate with the police.But people who do not trust the police and do not feelinformed express a smaller desire of getting involved insolving the problems of public order and cooperatingwith the police.

In the surveys, people have provided their suggestionsfor improving work organisation of the State Police, too.In 2010, increasing the salaries of low-ranked policemenwas mentioned as one of the most essential things, alsothere was mention of increasing the number of staff andfighting corruption, a change of attitude towards thepopulation and kindness, quicker reaction time tocomplaints and calls. The population expects theprevention activities from the police as well and evenmore active provision of information to the public onpolice work. The need for improving internal workorganisation, attitude towards the population,improvements in provision of information to the publicand in cooperation with the population as well asperformance of prevention activities have been indicatedas the most topical needs in 2011, too.

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5.1.2. Survey of the State Police Customers

here is an excellent example in theexperience of the State Police of how theopinion of the police customers who havecome into real contact with the police can

be learned by using internal resources of the organisationand support of cooperation partners. By using supportof a social media in the end of 2009 a survey of policeclients Assessment of Quality of Work by the State Policewas performed electronically.32 It was the first survey inhistory of the State Police in which the police work wasassessed through the service provision prism and whichhas provided the answer to the questions very muchdiscussed inside the police on whether the police areproviding the service and how its quality should bemeasured. Results of the survey show the evidence, thatthe quality of police work directly influences the publicassessment.

Discussion on service quality is topical not only in thepolice, but in other law enforcement institutions as well,for example, in courts. The most heard argument is thatneither police nor courts (or any other law enforcementinstitutions) do business, therefore, the work of theseinstitutions cannot be deemed as a service.

The service provided to the population by the StatePolice ensures the sense of security. Though it mayseem a wide and even abstract definition for everydaywork, it is not so. The public sense of security is ensuredvia individual events when any police staff membercomes into contact with any member of the public (victimon the scene, driver on the road, a person calling thepolice to provide information, etc.). In the Netherlands,for example, the police service is currently defined asincreasing the quality of life of the public, because thesense of security is one of the basic factors of the qualityof life.

Various kinds of communication between the police andrepresentatives of the public may be divided into certaingroups. Levels of communication may also be

distinguished, for which, in turn, the measurable criteriamay be defined. In such a way, the impact of a particularaspect of communication to both the group of customersand the image of State Police as a whole may bedetermined.

The experience of police services in Anglo-Saxoncountries in conducting population surveys was usedfor the development of the survey Assessment of qualityof work by the State Police. During the analysis of stagesof communication between the population and the police,four basic customer groups were distinguished:

• people turning to the police for assistance;• people providing information to police;• people who have suffered traffic accidents;• the events when police staff approaches the person.

Communication between the State Police and its customersmay be divided as follows:

1. Police availability: a) possibility to contact the police;b) pace of police reaction to the application received.

2. Immediate activities: a) activities of police uponreceipt of information; b) activities on site of theevent.

3. Feedback (provision of information on use ofinformation received and/or activities taken in thecourse of the process).

4. Communication culture (police staff attitude).

5. General experience (general idea of the policecustomer about the contact as a whole).

First, the results of the survey showed that police serviceis possible to both define and measure. Secondly, theyrevealed an accurate link between police activities andthe desire of customers to contact the police repeatedly.The desire to contact the police repeatedly may exactlybe the indicator of the public sense of security level,because it shows whether a person facing danger has

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any faith that somebody will take care of his/her securityand that it is worth contacting the police.

According to data of the survey, if a person is discouragedin writing the application for the police, then only 15.9%of people are prepared to contact the police repeatedly,while if the application is accepted, then 53.2% of peoplewill contact the police repeatedly.

The police staff communication culture influences thedesire of the population to contact the police even more

– 70% of people are prepared to contact the policerepeatedly if they have experienced positivecommunication during the first contact, while if theexperience has been negative, then only 10°% would turnfor assistance to the police repeatedly.

Customer satisfaction with the police work in generaldepends to a large extent on receipt of feedback. 52.6%of those receiving information about the course of eventsare satisfied with police work even if the case is notdetected.33

32 The survey was developed (idea, construction, data analysis) by Andis Rinkevics (he was the assistant to the SP chief V. Voins at that moment) and it was advertised free of charge in the social portal www.draugiem.lv. It is an excellent example of cooperation between the SP and its partners (the investment of this cooperation partner was the open advertising space in the amount of approximately LVL 15,000– about EUR 21,318).

33 Rinkevics A. Police as the Service Provider – Assessment of the SP Work Quality. (Lecture delivered on 21 March 2010 in Talsi department.)

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5.1.3. Surveys for Learning the Opinion of the Population in Pilot Areas

is important that such surveys are usedin police work planning by means ofwhich both the public opinion in generaland assessment of various police

customers about the police work are clarified. Thesurveys exploring the needs of the population of theparticular serviced territory in the context of securityproblems are equally significant. There no practice hasbeen developed in the State Police so far to consider,during police work planning on the department level,the opinion of the local population and its needs forsecurity improvements in the serviced territory. Althoughthe opinion that police work for the people is defended,the police staff rarely, or never, address the localpopulation for the purpose of learning how safe theyfeel in the vicinity they live.

Surveys conducted by police staff personally, in whichthe needs of the population are clarified, are one of theways which allow for orienting the police work to theneeds of the local population and raising the level ofthe sense of security. The procedure of the survey makesthe police staff leaving their offices for the streets andget to know those people they actually work for.Conducting the surveys provides the opportunity forestablishing contacts with possible cooperation partnersin other institutions as well. Quite often while conductingsurveys, the policemen get to know the normal part ofthe public, because, while untwisting criminalprocedures, the contact is made mainly with problematicpolice customers.

During the project, the police staff themselves performedsurveys in the following departments: Kurzeme RegionalAuthority Talsi department (in the end of 2009), KurzemeRegional Authority Saldus department (in summer of2011), Kurzeme Regional Authority LiepÇja department(in summer of 2011), and Riga Kurzeme department (inspring of 2011).

It is interesting that security problems mentioned in

population surveys are not always within the field ofpolice responsibility. Security is an inter-institutionalresponsibility and joint effort should be made to improvesecurity in the territory we live and work in.

The first survey performed in the Talsi department (inthe end of 2009) showed that out of the 6 securityproblems named by the population, only two are withindirect responsibility of the State Police. The opinion ofthe population and the State Police with respect topriority areas was also different; for example, minimisingtheft, which has been defined by the State Police as apriority based on its statistics, was mentioned by thepopulation only in the sixth position of importance.Overall, the following security problems were mentionedin the territory serviced by the Talsi department(arranged based on their importance):• lack of lighting or insufficient lighting;• youth gangs;• persons intoxicated by alcohol;• violation of traffic rules;• wandering animals;• theft.

Along with clarifying particular security problems, thesurveys gave the opportunity to learning about thoseareas in the serviced territory which contribute to senseof insecurity of the population. Quite often the indicatedunsafe places have not been within police sight so far.However, people assess those based on their own securitycriteria. For example, in the town of Talsi, the tunnelvia which people cross Dundaga Street was indicatedas an unsafe place. The tunnel was recognised as unsafenot because any offences would have been committedthere, but because there was no lighting in it, it wasflooded during rainfall, somebody had urinated thereor they had simply felt uneasy. In the cooperation ofpolice, the municipality, Talsi Municipal Children andYouth Centre, Talsi School of Arts and the local populationthe tunnel was put in order – tunnel floor was installed,walls were painted, surroundings were landscaped and

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lighting was installed. A joint effort in arranging theplace facilitated the co-responsibility of people for furthermaintenance of this place in order.

The following areas were also mentioned as unsafe inthe surveys: parking lots with no lighting, publictransport stops, carriageway crossings, shops near whichalcohol is consumed, etc.

Already after the first year of project implementation,when people were asked about the police work, theassessment of work of the Talsi department hadimproved: 11% more believed that police are successfullyin ensuring order and security in their place of residence;13% more believed that in their place of residence the

police are well aware of the problems troubling the localpopulation, while the number of those who believedthat in their place of residence the police are involvethe population in solving security issues had increasedby 8%. The project team believes that such improvementswere facilitated to a large extent by the fact that theopinion of the population was learned, data of surveyswere used in work planning and the problems indicatedby the population were addressed.34

The project team has developed a methodology materialThe issues preceding the survey (on the performance ofsurveys for clarifying security problems), it has beenattached hereto.

34 It is possible to research the comparative results for all three years in the Annex Assessment of Police Work in Talsi Department in 2009–2011.

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he Czech police have used several waysto summarise references aboutcommunity policing by various policeunits during recent years. Part of the

information obtained has served as the basis for anapplication for the Czech Republic Ministry of InteriorCrime Prevention Grant Programme and another parthas been a source of information for research on publicsatisfaction with police work, attitude towards police orits requirements.

The Czech experience shows that surveys can be usednot only for obtaining some information, but also toinform the public about the changes related tounderstanding the police work and to define theimportance of police for the public once again; thus thepublic acknowledges that closer cooperation betweenpolice and the public is a mutual gain.

Before the introduction of community policing methodsthe main problem of the Czech police in performanceof surveys was that the data were collected only forinformation, not for action based on the conclusions.Such situation was facilitated by both the fact that thepolice had not planned to use the results of the surveyin work planning and that quite often statistical datadid not provide sufficiently solid grounds for activities(which the police had hoped to obtain). It should alsobe noted that policemen often do not trust statistics

because they know quite well from their own and theirmanagers’ practice that it is not always worth trusting.However, the results of surveys may be good justificationand may motivate the policemen to continue usingcommunity policing methods. The most important thingis for the policemen to feel in everyday contacts withthe public that their work has improved the relationsand that their managers see their not so effectivestrategies in combating crime (compared to the classictriad of receipt of information/quick reaction/reportingthe event).

It is not advisable, on one hand, that surveys, the resultsof which are representative and reflect the attitude ofpeople towards police, are performed by policementhemselves, because statistical deviation in such asituation may be too large. However, on the other hand,in case of local surveys it is the way to demonstrate thatpolice really care about the attitude of the populationand the police take it personally.

The types of surveys described further were used duringthe introduction of community policing methods in thework of Czech police to research the public attitude orto learn about the worries of the local population withrespect to security issues. Surveys were performed byboth policemen and professional organisations. Threetypes of surveys were used most.

5.2. Experience of Czech Police in Learning the Opinion of the Population

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ublic perception, attitudes andexpectations in general are worth studyingto get some overall information aboutpopulation. One doesn’t learn much from

surveying it once – it is useful only if it is surveyedrepeatedly to analyse trends in public opinion towardspolice. This means that it is useful to do it only if you willhave secured funding for doing such a survey every twoyears, for example.

Nonetheless the results of surveys should be used carefullywhile the outcomes can vary depending on actualdiscussion in the media (the public is always moresupportive towards police after successful police actions).

Representative surveys are definitely the most complicatedand they require detailed preparation and a scientificapproach. Based on some features of a surveyed population,a structured sample of population has to be created andaddressed by using appropriate methods as the resultsmay vary significantly according to the method chosen.

If unbiased, the survey gives good overall informationabout the attitudes within a surveyed population. It allowsstating of general theses about the population’s feelingsof security, awareness of police tactics and performance,reach of information spread by police towards public,ratio of public trust towards police, willingness to cooperatewithin some previously defined areas etc. Therefore itallows interesting comparison of these data with other„objective” statistics – e.g. feelings of being threatenedby concrete crimes in comparison to the presence of thesecrimes within the surveyed population.

This kind of survey requires know-how of sampling,questionnaire construction and statistical analysis. It isdefinitely the most expensive way to gather someinformation – questions have to be delivered to a previouslydefined sample of informants within short period of time.The smaller the surveyed population is, the less precisethe outcomes of such survey are – and therefore arenearly useless except of longitudinal studies (comparingfor example public trust to police every two years etc.).They are useful more as a source of overall informationthan as a tool to encourage public involvement in securityissues.

The representative survey was made as an opinion poll(telephone survey with a previously set sample ofinformants) at the beginning and at the end of our projecton the implementation of CP methods in two pilot locationsof the Czech police. It gave us a good impression aboutthe role of media (national/local) in the formation ofpublic opinion and trust towards police. Local media havethe power to form different opinions of public towardspolice – they are generally more trusting to „their” policeofficers than to police in general.

In case of representative surveys, the most useful arequestions mapping actual fears of the population. It canbe compared to crime statistics – to know whether thesefears match the real situation or not. Another useful setof data can be gathered by questions focusing at systemicpatterns in public expectations – they can vary accordingto size of their place, to the distance from the place to thenearest police station, to informants’ age or sex etc.

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5.2.1. Representative Surveys

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here have been several surveys onmunicipalities’ willingness to cooperatewith police in Czech experience.

It showed that representatives of municipalities aredisciplined and the rate of return approaches 100%.Moreover, it can be very effective to address them forat least three reasons.

First, it allows for showing and explaining to mayorsand other municipality officials the shift in police workand its future plans. It provides locally accountableofficers with good reason to meet them and to presentthemselves to the municipality.

Second, it saves money – the questionnaires can bedistributed and collected by police officers, or – for

more anonymity, should be secured to municipalityrepresentatives – they would probably have no problemin sending it by mail to the police district office.

Third, it allows for the detection of the overall abilityof municipalities to support police in their efforts (andprovides some argumentation against municipalitiesunwilling or refusing to cooperate), and it can give animpression of different expectations of municipalitiesaccording to their size, distance from nearest policestation etc.

The main disadvantage of such surveys is that theygive a good overall picture of the municipalities’expectations and cooperativeness but do not tell muchabout the feelings of the general public.

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5.2.2. Surveys/Inquiries among Representatives of Municipalities

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he difference between surveys andinquiries is that the latter is not focusedon a representative sample but on peoplewho show some interest themselves.

Although it is not able to give an overall, objective pictureof the population’s attitudes, it can be useful forcommunity policing efforts: It gathers information from(and about) people who feel that security is an importantissue to them. Contrary to surveys, with inquiries thereis no need to know the questioned population in detail.The core question is how to give an opportunity toparticipate in the survey to anybody who might beinterested.

The advantage of such inquiries is that it brings togetherdata from people who are willing to somehow deal withsecurity issues. It is not so expensive and most of theplanning and the process of data gathering can be donein cooperation with other partners from the community(e.g. questionnaires gathering in offices and commercialpremises across the town, questionnaires distributionthrough locally distributed media). It can work as a toolfor the empowerment of the local community to dealwith security issues cooperatively.

In such inquiries you can ask about peoples’ perceptionof concrete improvements of their security, about theirexpectations from police, about the concrete places that

police should deal with according to their point of view,about their knowledge of the location, knowledge ofconcrete police officers, willingness to cooperate andpossible modes of cooperation etc. It is good to be muchmore concrete when the outcomes are to be used whendealing with concrete issues of a concrete location.

On one hand, this approach doesn’t gather informationfrom people who aren’t interested. On the other hand,when working with a previously set sample of thepopulation, you don’t get such information either. Butin this case, you don’t need to deal with the questionon how relevant the gathered data is in general.

Another set of interested public are people who get incontact with police – mainly at the police station. Theyused to be asked about their satisfaction with the servicedelivered (like response time, officers’ behaviour, didthe police solve their issue, how long did it take beforesomeone was ready to help them, etc.). That kind ofquestionnaires slightly disappeared from usage in Czechpolice stations. Some officers explained that stationchiefs didn’t use these inquiries much to change thesituation. They were evaluated at every station separately– and some say that it lead to the falsification (orimprovement) of results by chiefs who simply threwaway questionnaires that didn’t fit into the picture theywanted to get.

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5.2.3. Inquiries among the Interested Public

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According to the Czech experience it is not reallynecessary to have figures showing that for example in2004, there were 50% of inhabitants who felt threatenedat some concrete place and that this ratio changed to45% in 2006. It is more useful to define these concreteplaces, to point them out as possible sources of problemsand to change their physique visibly in cooperation withthe municipality, other partners and with informationsupport of local media. The change shall be documentednot by a feeling of security ratio but by tangible changesthat were consulted and derived from the expectationsof the community.

That’s why the most useful seems to combine inquiryamong the interested public with survey on municipalityofficials. It gave a stronger capacity to really solve someissues that were bothering the community. The surveysshould always come together with follow up activitiesof the municipality and police.

According to the Czech experience, the most effectiveare following steps:

• to turn to municipality and other natural partners(e.g. municipal police, schools, church, firemen,healthcare representatives etc.) and to discuss withthem the probable areas of security issues that couldbe of some interest to the community;

• to prepare, based on this discussion, a questionnaireon community issues (doesn’t necessarily have to befocused only on security) and find a way to spreadthe questionnaires to most of the communitymembers;

• to inform the community that there will be suchinitiative and how it is going to be organised (e.g.how the data will be processed, how thequestionnaires will be distributed and collected, whatthe outcomes will be used for);

• to distribute the questionnaires;

• after the retrieval of questionnaires and evaluationof the data, to inform the community on the outcomesand invite them to discuss the data on security issues.Also inform the community on how other datagathered will be used;

• to prepare a public event to discuss the outcomeswith police;

• at the public event, the debate should be led firstgenerally about all the issues identified in the inquiry;these issues shall be prioritised and then discussedseparately according to its precinct/beat affiliation.This means, the officers should be ready to deal withthese issues, have an overall idea of possible solutionsetc.;

• the precinct/beat officers shall lead the next stepsaccording to the plan and the problem-solvingstrategies developed at the event with the membersof the community;

• such inquiry with the follow up process should berepeated after some period of time (two or threeyears). In the meantime, the activity depends mainlyon every precinct/beat officer and its partners.

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Conclusions

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or the purpose of learning about thetopical security problems in the servicedterritory Belgian police use the World Cafemethod once every two to three years.

The meeting is organised on the particular subject. Atthe beginning of the meeting all persons present aredivided into groups (4–5 people per group). Each grouphas a discussion moderator. The problems discussed ortheir solutions are recorded on paper tablecloths. Aftera certain time (advisable time is approximately 30minutes), the discussion groups switch tables (thetablecloths remain in place) and continue the discussionon what had been discussed by the previous group. Afterthe defined period, the tables are switched again. Thediscussion continues until participants return to theinitial table. Thus, all participants have had the possibilityto speak on all the issues and the ideas of all participantsare recorded on the tablecloth.

The discussion may be arranged in two ways: 1) bynotifying the participants about the subject and allowingthe groups to establish the issues for discussion themselves(not straying from the main subject); 2) by defining aproblem issue for each tablecloth, i.e. by writing theissue/problem (which corresponds to the overall subjectof discussion) which should be discussed at the particulartable on the tablecloth.

When such kinds of discussions are organised, attentionshould be paid that the participants would be possiblydifferent both as to the age, sex, education and socialstatus, ethnic origin, etc. Representatives of all groups

residing in the territory should be invited to the discussion.

Special regulations should be adhered to during thediscussion: everybody should listen carefully to understandwhat is being said; opinions should be expressed actively;questions should be asked in the event of uncertainty;each idea or comment should be related to any ideaexpressed earlier; only one’s personal opinion should beexpressed; everybody must be brief and clear in his/herexpressions.

For example, the subject for discussion How to deal withyouth successfully. During the discussion the participants:1) define main problems: communication, breach of law,anti-social behaviour, development of trust, etc.; 2) whichare the involved persons and institutions: schools, youthcentres, parents, etc.; 3) suggestions, ideas, activities; 4)attitudes, etc.

If there are, for example, 20 people invited to the WorldCafe discussion, then, when divided into groups of 4,absolutely all participants will have spoken and policewill have gained many ideas for the further solution ofthe problem.

Belgian policemen have acknowledged that this approachis very simple and convenient, and it is possible to obtainideas for solving several problems within one discussion;at the same time, the discussions are very much focusedand there is no beating around the bush, as is often thecase during the meetings with the public.

For more information about World Cafe seewww.theworldcafe.com

5.3. Other Methods for Learning the Opinion of the Population:World Cafe in Belgian Police35

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35 Materials of the CEPOL course 2/2011 Community Policing have been used in the description

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6. Using the Survey Data inPolice Work Planning

6.1. Defining the Aims of the Organisation

he current chief of the State Police, I.μuzis, has brought forward, among otherthings, two essential issues as hisstrategic tasks – introduction of quality

management system in the police and elaboration of along-term development strategy of the State Police.36

When evaluating the determination of I. μuzis, it shouldbe noted that ambitious, but long-required goals havebeen brought forward – to embody strategic vision inpolice development, to review the police work assessmentcriteria and to put public opinion and assessment intoone scale with the police statistics.

Since Latvia regained independence in 1991, the StatePolice has not elaborated a long-term developmentstrategy. Not only does this contradict the DevelopmentPlanning System Law, but has also eventually hinderedthe targeted and systematic development of the StatePolice in the direction of democratic police.

According to provisions of legal acts, the State Policeshould have a development strategy and the annual workplan which would fit into the defined developmentplanning document hierarchy.

The State Police are currently planning its work onlyfor short term, or within the annual work plan. Moreover,the annual work plans are developed only on national(State Police) and regional (regional authorities) level.The local (department) level plan is not being developed

any more at the moment. None of the above plansprovides for learning and considering the opinion of thepopulation about security problems. Though the policework for the public, it is not including the police workassessment by the public in its reports and planningdocuments.

Until recently, prior to territorial reform of 2009, theplans was the information of limited access at the locallevel. Representatives of public did not have the right tolearn what the work priorities of the local police authoritywere. The access level is no longer limited now, becausethere are no such plans either.

If a quality management system is introduced, it shallbe based on a very simple sequence of works to do: plan→ do → assess → review the conclusions → and planagain. It should be admitted that without a developmentstrategy introduction of quality management system isencumbered, because planning stage is lacking. Whileif quality management system is introduced, both policework planning and police work assessment criteriabecome topical.

One of the cornerstones of a quality management systemis the customers’ assessment of services provided bythe company or an institution. It is concluded that infuture the public assessment and needs will be thevalues having the same importance as offences registeredand detected by the police and other similar statistics.

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36 You do something today! [Interview with I. μuzis] (Available at: http://politika.lv/article/tu-izdari-kaut-ko-sodien)

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hen the pilot project was implementedin the Talsi depar tment , adepartmental-level work plan for aperiod of three years was prepared,

the tasks set forth therein were based both on the needsof the public and its police work assessment and thepriorities brought forward by the police, and statisticsavailable.

The Talsi department work plan for 2010 – 201237 is anattempt to demonstrate that the results of surveys maybe used in everyday work. This plan confirms that a policework plan may be targeted at the needs of the public andsuch needs have been clarified by the police. This is away to demonstrate that a planning document may bepublic and available in a convenient manner, and it therebycauses no harm or danger to everyday work of the police.Just the opposite – a work plan of local level has severalpositive aspects from both the police and the publicperspective.

Why does the public need a police work plan at the locallevel?• The plan enhances awareness of the population about

what the police do and why.• By obtaining more information about everyday work

of the police the population is encouraged to makecontact.

• Work tasks evident that police are in contact withthe topical needs of the population, because the planincludes particular security problems and unsafeplaces of the serviced territory.

• By learning about the work tasks, the population maymake conclusions about what the financial resourcesof the police are spent on.

• Awareness enhances joint responsibility – further onother people also will want to get involved in anypolice activities whether by filling in the next surveyor by assisting in implementation of preventionprojects.

• If police work according to the tasks set forth in the

plan, then social control is increased (the populationfollows-up whether, for example, all the parties involvedinvest sufficient amount of work or resources to solvethis problem).

What does police gain by elaborating public work planof local level?• The plan enhances awareness of the police work

which is important for the police as well.• Information included in the plan enhances trust in

police (but not necessarily satisfaction with its work).• Existence of such plan is a feature of a democratic

state institution – the institution is opened to thepublic and is reporting about its work.

• The plan makes one concentrate on the mostsignificant things, thus the work becomes moreeffective.

• The plan is a support in everyday work, because itinforms the public about work tasks of the police; itis like representation material or reference explainingwhy the police are currently performing theseactivities and not others.

• Work plan developed together with the colleaguesenhances the police staff sense of being part of theorganisation.

• Existence of the work plan confirms to the public thatpolice plays the role of expert and coordinator insolving the indicated security problems; policebecomes more professional in the eyes of the public.

• The police plan demonstrates that security problemsare a shared responsibility – both among otherinstitutions and representatives of the public.

Along with the data of public surveys discussed in otherchapters it should be emphasised in the context of policeplan that existence and availability of Talsi departmentwork plan notably increased the awareness of thepopulation about the police work. The assessment ofpopulation on the following allegations changed duringone year:• In my place of residence the police are well aware of

6.2. Police Work Plan at the Local or Departmental Level and its Use in Everyday Work

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security problems troubling the population – from47% in 2009 to 60% in 2010 (+ 13%).

• In my place of residence the police are successfullyensuring order and security – from 56% in 2009 to67% in 2010 (+ 11%).

The police work plan of Talsi department for 2010–2012is only the first attempt to introduce such practice inwork organisation of the State Police. Each departmentmay develop a different structure and volume of the plan.It does not have to be so long, so detailed or on such goodpaper. The main thing is for the population to be able tounderstand who, when, where and how the opinion ofthe public was learned, what was learned and how itwill be used.

In foreign practice, for example, in Britain such plansare usually approximately two A4-size pages long.Nevertheless, approaches may differ.

When drafting a work plan, it should be kept in mindthat: 1) it should include priorities of the public; 2) itshould include priorities of the police; 3) not more than4-7 aims for 2_3 years or 3 aims for 6 months should beincluded in it; 4) the aims should be concrete, measurable,attainable and performable in time; 5) the plan shouldreflect how the results will be measured; 6) the planshould be in simple language and public-oriented.

At the end of the period of operation of the plan, it shouldbe evaluated whether its form and content have beenconvenient and understandable to both representativesof the public and the police staff.

Here is the example of experience of British police: in2008 British police performed a study of how big is theinfluence of a circular edited by the police and a bookleton police work to public opinion. A circular of Metropolitan(London) police on problems in the vicinity, expectationsof the population, cooperation of police with the publicand work done by the police, and a booklet on policestatistics and results of work were evaluated. Both editionswere distributed in various ways: 1) by mail; 2) to placesof residence; 3) at the place of residence, includingconversation.

Upon summarisation of results, it was concluded thatcredence of the population that offences are punishedincreased by 5%; awareness of crime in the vicinityincreased by 5%; awareness of local community increasedby 10% and that of the whole of London by 12%; trust inwork of local police increased by 8%; credence that policesucceeds in dealing with crimes involving weaponsincreased by 8%; credence that police succeed in dealingwith crimes involving drugs increased by 4%; there wasa 6% increase in credence that police succeed in dealingwith gatherings of youth and doing nothing in the streetsand that police are managing aggressive driving.

It is interesting that the effect of information increasedin the events when information was provided by arepresentative of police holding a position.38

The plan of the Talsi department, most likely, will notlive to its next edition in this kind of format, because itshould be admitted that it did not, however, completelyacclimatise itself in the Talsi department as an informativematerial necessary for the police itself and useful incooperation with the public (though the statisticsdemonstrated the opposite trend). Thanks to the plan, alevel of awareness and satisfaction in the eyes of thepublic increased, however the police staff did not reallyperceive it as their own document. It lived its own lifewithin the core project team. It is, possibly, influencedby the fact that there is no order issued within the StatePolice on the need for such plan and drafting such planon local level is not provided for in the current officialwork planning system. Probably, for the time being, thepolice do not have the skills for practical use of suchdocuments in their everyday work. Most likely, unwindingcriminal procedures takes up all of the time and thereis no time remaining for anything else (as the habit is).

The public found this plan a positive and useful material,though.

The needs of the population were learned in LiepÇja,Saldus, Riga and Kurzeme departments, too. Time willshow how these departments will use the obtained datain their everyday work.

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It should be remembered that the process of planningplays an equally important role as the process of doing.Considering the community policing philosophy, the dataof surveys cannot be included only in documents whichare not available to wider public according to theregulations. There is also no sense in including such datain the documents available to the public, if the contentis not understandable.

The management of the department should have a clearvision about the use of data already prior to its collection,so not to occupy its staff in vain. If it is intended to usethe data only as a method of public relations then itshould be recognised that the positive effect will beattained for a short period only, at the moment such datawill be made public. The public needs to see, in the longrun, that problems are being solved in practice, too.39

The work plan based on the real needs of the populationin the territory serviced by the department providessignificant support to police in performing everyday work.

The plan serves as a basis for cooperation with otherinstitutions and the public. A document summarisingthe real needs of the local public in the aspect of securityserves as a good basis for initiating cooperation withvarious responsible institutions which care for the welfareof the population in their everyday work. In the firstplace, those are local governments and municipalityinstitutions: councils, schools, social services, buildingmanagers, traffic departments, etc.

The experience of the Talsi pilot project showed that,quite often, information about what the population deemsimportant in securing their personal security is not evenavailable to the municipalities. Municipalities involvedin the pilot projects were happy and grateful to the policefor the huge work done in learning the opinion of thepopulation, summarising the information obtained andselecting the most essential. Security problems indicatedby the population are pretty often even not related to thefields of police activity. In most cases, the problemsmentioned are within the competence of municipalities.Therefore, the municipality has no moral reason to refuse

getting involved in solving the problems.

It was noticed during the project period that municipalitiesare especially active and ready to cooperate during thepre-election period, and police should definitely makeuse of this.

To obtain the widest possible range of cooperation partners,the identified problems should be discussed to the extentpossible with both the responsible institutions and thelocal public. The more people are involved and the morethe police work plan is discussed in the local community,the more people are aware of what the problems (orproblem areas) are and who is responsible for them. Aninformed public follows the processes and monitorswhether the problem is being solved and whether it isbeing done by the one who should do it.

By making the police work plan public and by discussingit the security problems indicated by the population andtheir solution is delegated to the responsible institutionsor other cooperation partners. Police becomes a coordinatorfor solving problems, not the actual solver. To solve someproblem, for example, to arrange the unsafe site, it isquite often necessary to involve several partners – themunicipality, school, businesses, etc. Police are the onesbringing all parties together and monitoring thatagreement is reached on the solution, how that isimplemented, whether the terms are observed, etc.

Police are the ones providing information to local mediaabout the progress made in solving the problems. Ifproblems are solved successfully, the police earn creditpoints in the eyes of the public for the problems solvedand the total image and prestige of police improves. If itis not possible to solve any problems or it does not happenas fast as desired, then the police also inform mass mediaabout the reasons for it. Mass media can also be used ascooperation partners, for example, when announcingsome public joint work or imposing pressure on someonenot getting involved in solving the problem within itsresponsibility.

To facilitate overall responsibility and to promote inter-institutional cooperation in solving problems, the police

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work plan should be based upon the real needs of thepopulation, it should be publically available and discussedwith both the local population and the responsibleinstitutions.

The work plan acts as support in the planning andimplementation of prevention activities. For thepurpose of spending limited financial and other resourcesof police more effectively, the prevention activities shouldbe based upon statistical or population survey data.Prevention activities based on the real needs of thepopulation will provide a greater preventive effect thanthe activities of a general nature. For example, it is notenough to inform the population that a bicycle shouldbe secured with the appropriate mechanisms when leftunattended. It is advisable for the police staff to visitcompanies or municipalities and jointly find the optionsfor safe installation of bicycle parking facilities. Not onlycombat theft in a broad sense, but analyse what kind oftheft is common in the serviced territory and in whichplaces (theft from cars is performed in unlit streets ormaybe next to kindergartens, outskirts of town, etc.).

It is also potentially easier to attract cooperation partnerfinancing for prevention projects that are based on theopinion of the population. For example, an initiative ofthe Road Traffic safety Directorate to direct financesobtained from mandatory civil liability insurance policiesto prevention projects, but the State Police could plancooperation in the field of prevention and discuss withthe insurers another problem areas as well, for example,security of the place of residence. It is possible that socialservices of municipalities are interested in supportingprevention activities aimed at old and lonely peoplefinancially.

Police work plan is a document that may always serveas support for work planning and attracting financing,

because it is the material summarising the topicalitiesin a particular period. At the moment, the possibilityto involve some cooperation partner appears, the reasonfor financing will definitely need to be proven, thepolice work plan provides a justified explanation thatthe need is not that of the police but of the local public,i.e. local population. Thus, it will not be required tostudy the situation at the particular moment; the largeamount of research work has been done already andit provides the answers about the needs. For example,it is easier to attract financing for prevention projectsoriented at children and youth, but the research of thesituation confirms that it is not always this target groupwhich has the most topical problems – activities arerequired for the adult public also, as well as in thefield of improving the city environment and dealingwith unsafe areas indicated by the population.

Work planning is police civic responsibility. Theexistence of a police work plan and its actual usedemonstrates that the organisation operates accordingto modern good management principles in a democraticcountry. Planning the work is not only a task foradministrative apparatus of the organisation or aformality, but it is also required on a departmentallevel. Most of the department staff should be involvedin drafting the work plan, especially the district officers,because it will be them who will implement this plan.It is advisable to organise a brainstorm at the beginningof drafting the work plan, thus every staff membermay demonstrate initiative and provide suggestionson how to improve relations with the local public. Jointdrafting of the work plan (for example, once everythree years) increases the sense of staff being part ofthe organisation they work in. Such a sense facilitatesa personal feeling of comfort and improves the qualityof work.

37 See the summary of Talsi department work plan in the Annex Priorities for the Talsi Department Work in 2010–2012 (summary).38 Rix A., Joshua F., Maguire M., Morton S. Improving Public Confidence in the Police: A Review of the Evidence. [Research Report 28]. Home Office,

December 2009. (Available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/horr28c.pdf)39 The Talsi department report on the work plan may be researched in the Annex Report of the State Police Kurzeme Regional Authority Talsi

Department to the Population for Work Done in 2010–2011.

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iscussions on cooperation with massmedia were topical at the beginning ofthe project. The power and influence ofmass media in developing the image of

the police was discussed, too. No doubt that it is great,but basically the policeman is evaluated as per his workand behaviour during contact with the population. If apoliceman has acted unprofessionally or unlawfully,good work done by other colleagues will be noticed less.People learn the information about the police work indifferent ways and media are only one source ofinformation. So, it was discovered during the survey onpublic trust in the State Police performed within theproject at the end of 2011, that only 52% of respondentsin Latvia feel sufficiently informed about the work ofthe State Police in general. During the project period(since 2009), this indicator has improved by 10%.However, it should be noted that there is a lot to do inthis area. Representatives of national minorities andthe population of big cities, especially the capital, feelless informed. It proved during the project that providinginformation about the police work on the local level isdirectly related to the increase of public trust in policework. Although, according to data of surveys availableto us, 86% of the population indicates mass media (TV,radio, press, internet) as the main source of informationabout the police, own experience or that of other personsin communication with the police has taken secondposition (19% and 26% of the answers).

Provision of information to the public about works andparticular project activities performed already waschosen as the main form of cooperation in communicationwith mass media during the period of projectimplementation. The project team was aware that simplenotification on changing the style of work would notearn the sympathy of journalists or the population, whileit might create unnecessary misunderstandings, becauseit should be understood that police are not able to changework methods overnight. Only by addressing the

population with particular things already performedone may hope for their understanding and furtherinvolvement in solving security issues. Successfulcooperation with the regional media of Kurzemedeveloped during the project and a total of more than100 different kinds of positive articles about the workof local police were made public. Several stories preparedfor Talsi TV were shown on the State TV as well: thestory on the introductory seminar of the project, thestory about opening of the renewed Talsi tunnel and theinternational closing conference which also garneredpublic attention in other municipalities. Experiencegained during the project assured that there are manyother ways to inform the population about police work,for example, by jointly discussing local security problemsand solving those, the population gets the sense thatpolice keep them informed and are taking care of theirsecurity. Requests by the project team for placinginformation were positively responded to by both localmunicipality councils and local newspapers.

In contradiction to the opinion often expressed withinthe police environment, that the population is onlyinterested in bad works and failures of the police, theresults of surveys performed during the projectconvincingly demonstrated that the majority of theLatvian population are interested in suggestions onsecurity issues (87%), in activities for improving securityat the place of residence (83%) as well as in the waysthe population could assist the State Police. Interest incrime prevention work was demonstrated by 61% of thepopulation, while 52% would like to receive even moreinformation about the detected offences. Unfortunately,this possibility is not always used by mass media andthe police itself. More attention is usually paid to badnews (the stories are mainly developed withoutconclusions and preventive advice to the population).It is comparatively easier to address people by meansof local media because the number of events in smallermunicipalities allows for going deeper into each event.

6.3. Cooperation with Mass Media

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Initially, Talsu Vïstis published only traditional newsabout the offences which had already happened andwhich did not create any sense of security in thepopulation and did not provide a review on work doneby the police. Nevertheless, during the project, TalsuVïstis regularly published suggestions of policedepartment staff to the population, such practice wasrecognised as positive, moreover, this service was freeof charge.

As one of the keys to positive image of the police is theprovision of information to the public and work withlocal media, it is advised that each district officer shouldhave some representative of a local newspaper or other

media among his/her cooperation partners. Such contactmakes cooperation with local media easier in generalas well as significantly saves time at the moment theassistance of media is required in an emergencysituation or their support should be sought for furthersolution of some problem. Each district officer shouldprovide information to a local newspaper about positiveevents on his/her own, rather than wait until the mediaapproaches the police.

The image of the police is created by policementhemselves, both by their work and the informationprovided; therefore the police staff should invest theireffort and time in developing relations with local media.

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he need to change the existing workorganisation has been discussed since2007. The above discussions weretriggered by the increasing number of

offences as well as lack of staff.

Former traditional police work methods – preventivepatrol, quick reaction to events and investigation ofcriminal procedures – did not provide the desired result.Quite often the use of these methods was not possibledue to lack of staff.

One of the main criteria for assessing the police workwas the number of detected criminal procedures pro ratathe number of registered offences (the number of detectedCPs X 100 is divided by the number of registered offencesobtaining the detection% as the result), resulting indirecting the largest part of human resources of police –criminal police officers, district officers, inspectors forcases involving minors – at investigating criminalprocedures and detection of offences.

Criminal procedures are investigated in isolation fromthe public and, moreover, punitive methods are used. Insuch cases, it is difficult to talk about services providedby the police. Changing the existing situation requiresthe change of existing work methods by introducingcommunity policing.

Within the project, the issue that police have to changefrom punitive institution to a service provider was stressedto the staff all the time. The community policing philosophyand methods were explained as well. One of the basicprinciples was voluntary acceptance of these ideas andpreparedness for their implementation in practical work.

In the beginning of the project, the activities onimplementing changes to the work methods were plannedonly in the town of Talsi and in Roja municipality – in

a town and in a rural environment, but in due course ofthe project the situation changed – all the Talsidepartment (Talsi, Roja, Dundaga, Mïrsrags), Saldus,Kuld¥ga, LiepÇja and Riga Kurzeme departments joinedin. The required preparatory work for cooperation withmunicipalities was performed. The Public OrderCommission was already operating successfully in Talsiby solving problems related to the causes of offences.The staff also gradually accepted the idea of the need forchange in everyday work organisation. Both municipalitiesand the population were informed about preparednessto change the previous work methods by regularpublications in mass media.

One of the cognitions in the foundation of police workwas that local police are solving local problems,emphasising just the problem solving, not the eliminationof consequences.

There is no ready-made recipe how to change the existingwork organisation, therefore, their own solution wassought. The territory serviced by Talsi District PoliceAuthority was divided into four zones by establishingfour groups. Five members of order police perform theirduties in each of these groups (four district officers andone inspector for cases involving minors. Those are theteams responsible for activities in the serviced territoryand contacts with the public (municipalities, schools,social service, orphan’s court, etc.).

One of the mistakes in introducing new work methodswas that the change of work organisation was mainlyperformed in the work of district officers and inspectorsfor cases involving minors. Though staff of all structuralunits was notified of the change in work methods,everyone, especially during the initial stage (training),was not always involved.

The main emphasis was on the changes in organisation

7. Changes in Work Organisation –Project Experience in Latvia

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of preventive work, because by investing more work inpreventive activities less will be required for criminalprocedure investigation. Special attention was paid toreducing the workload of district officers and inspectorsfor cases involving minors in the investigation of criminalprocedures. Along with the district officers who servicedthe defined territories, two staff members in the OrderPolice unit were assigned to the investigation of criminalprocedures. If until now the district officers were, in fact,investigating criminal procedures until their delivery tothe prosecutor’s office for commencing prosecution,during the project the criminal procedures were deliveredfor further investigation to this staff, thus providing moretime for the performance of preventive work (generalprevention).

The staff assigned to investigation were, in fact,performing the investigation work, i.e. the work ofinvestigators of the Criminal Police unit; when definingthe division of competences it was decided that inspectorsof the criminal police would investigate especially graveand grave crimes, while the district officers would takecare of criminal misdemeanours and less grave crimesas well as theft by breaking in (Part Three of Section 175of Criminal Law) where damage caused was up to LVL100 (about EUR 143).

It is currently not financially beneficial for police staffto perform prevention work (compared to investigatingcriminal procedures), because for good performance ofprevention work the staff can receive a bonus of up toLVL 20 (about EUR 28), but for investigating criminalprocedures – up to LVL 100 (about EUR 143). Thus,already in terms of remuneration, prevention work isvalued lower than investigating criminal procedures.

The next direction of cooperation was cooperation withthe municipality, especially by facilitating cooperationof various municipal institutions in clarification and

elimination of causes for the offences. Several suchmunicipality institutions may be distinguished:

1) The Talsi Municipality Public Order Commission (theaim of the Commission – to perform supervision ofpublic security and order in the territory of Talsimunicipality by coordinating its activities with lawenforcement institutions in Talsi municipality; maintasks: analysing the security situation in themunicipality, performing activities for discoveringcauses of offences and their elimination, etc.);

2) Talsi Municipality Council Traffic safety and RoadManagement Commission (provides proposals forensuring safe movement of transport and pedestrians);

3) Talsi municipality local government advisory councilfor working with risk families (the task of the council– organising prevention work with respect to offencescommitted by minors, discovering problems anddeveloping proposals for their solution).

As a result, representation of local police in practicallyall municipal institutions related, to any extent, to publicsecurity and order was ensured.

The chapter „Public order” was developed on the homepages of municipalities by including information aboutthe district and minor case inspectors, their visitinghours, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and servicedterritory; photos of the staff were added, too.40

The change of work methods of the organisation, whenintroducing community policing methods, should bevoluntary. Community policing methods cannot bereferred to a particular police department unit orindividual staff. This police work strategy and philosophymust be accepted by each staff member and theorganisation as a whole. This requires huge explanatorywork within the staff.

40 See http://www.talsi.lv/valsts-policija, http://www.dundaga.lv/policija/ievads,http://www.roja.lv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=134&Itemid=105

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ne of the basic duties of a district officeris to patrol the serviced territory, havediscussions with the population, housemanagers and their authorised persons,

janitors and municipality staff, the staff of companies,institutions, trade and other objects; in such a way thatthe district officer gets to know the serviced territory,the operative conditions and gets acquainted with thepopulation.

Community policing methods presume that the policemanknows the environment and people in the vicinity ofoperation. The purpose of all police activities arising fromcommunity policing philosophy is to increase effectivenessof police work by involving the public. What the localpublic perceives as a problem is important; involvingpolicemen in public life is only a means (not the purpose)for solving problems by simultaneously increasing theprestige of police.

One of the forms of district officer’s operation is visitinghours for population in the serviced territory. This usuallytakes place in premises devoted by the municipalityadministration. When the customer registration journalwas researched, it was concluded that the population isnot active. So, other ways need to be explored for thedistrict officer to learn about the problems worrying thelocal population.

Population forums take place in Talsi town andmunicipality on a regular basis and security issues raisingconcern of the population are always brought forwardthere. The last forum took place in 2010. Prior to the jointTalsi municipality forum, the so-called idea workshopswere organised in each civil parish and town, in whichthe local population and the district officers servicingthe respective territory took part.

In addition to large events, such as forums, ways shouldbe found for the district officers to regularly meet withthe local population outside the station, for example, in

shops or parks. By devoting more time to contact withthe population, the district officer may clarify what thepopulation expects from him; may inform the populationabout the possibilities to improve the security situation;may organise events of local scale which influence thecrime level and sense of security of the population; mayperform various prevention activities on a daily basis.

The more time a district officer devotes to contact withthe population, the greater the possibility for achievingobvious results:• to decrease the number of offences in certain serviced

territories;• to decrease the population’s fear of becoming victims

of criminal offences;• to increase satisfaction of the population with police

activities and trust in policemen;• to obtain more information from the population that

may be used for the preventive and punitiveelimination of crime.

At the moment, neither external nor internal regulationsdefine how much time the district officer should spendmeeting with the population in the serviced territory. Norecord of such time is performed either.

It is deemed in foreign practice (for example, in theNetherlands) that one hour of work in the serviced territoryis equal to at least three hours of work in the office. OurCzech colleagues have tried to arrange that the districtofficer would be located in the serviced rural territory atleast four hours a day, but in the city – at least two hours.

Unfortunately in Latvia, especially in the city, it is difficultto attain a district officer who is outside the office, becausethe work assessment criteria are mainly targeted at thestaff who spend most of their time performing investigativework.

However, management of the department is veryimportant. For example, a road police staff may berequired to visit, during his patrol, any of the institutions

7.1. Time Devoted to Communication with the Populationand the Role of the District Officer

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or companies in sight of the police and performpreventive work. Also, the leading police staff may, atits own initiative, react to the events in the city or solvesome security problem.

In addition, other forms of contacting the populationshould be considered, for example, targeted contactestablishment, visiting the meetings of the population,active participation in public life, etc.

ommunity policing methods should beintroduced in servicing both rural andcity territories, but work organisation ineach of those is different.

Foreign practice in this field varies. In some countries,the introduction of community policing methods hasbegun from the cities (capital cities), in others they startfrom small populated areas.

The most essential differences in the introduction of thesemethods are the possibilities of cooperation with localgovernment and representatives of its institutions. Thedistrict officer servicing a rural territory has a greateropportunity of cooperating with the staff of municipalityinstitutions, because their work is also often organised

based on the territorial principle, moreover, the localpower is authorised to solve issues of a local nature. Otherways should be sought to find the solutions in a big city.

The territory of a big city may also be divided into smallerserviced territories and it is possible to work as effectivelyas in rural regions.

At the moment, work has commenced to approbate themethod in the territory serviced by Riga Region Riga CityKurzeme department, and already after the first monthsof work this approach is supported by the staff. Supposedlyat the end of 2012, it will be possible to explore basicprinciples which would allow for the introduction ofcommunity policing methods in Riga, too.

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7.2. Differences in Work Organisation in the Cities and Rural Territories

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ne of the constituent parts and the mostcomplicated aspect in the introductionof community policing is problem solving.This method requires a continuously

innovative approach by the staff and it will never be acompleted procedure. The emphasis is on finding outand eliminating the causes of problems rather thaneliminating already existing consequences. The problemsolving method, in its essence, is just the opposite to thepunitive method which is used by the police most oftento resolve incidents , because it is much simpler to waitfor a call to the particular site than to try to find out thepossible factors facilitating crime and to prevent those.

Community policing methods require the skill of policestaff to involve a wide range of cooperation partners insolving the problem, including the heads of organisationsor particular individuals.

While implementing the problem solving method thepolice should: 1) accurately determine and defineproblems it intends to solve; 2) perform deeper analysisto find out the causes of problems; 3) conduct a widesearch for solutions to eliminate the established causesand facilitate a long-term solution; 4) evaluate howsuccessful such activities have been.

The Public Order Commission is established in Talsitown and Talsi municipality as well. It may be deemedas a crime prevention council of local scale. The TalsiMunicipality Public Order Commission is an institutionestablished by the local government and supervisingpublic security and order in the administrative territoryof Talsi municipality, which is subject to the TalsiMunicipality Council Economy Committee and is financedfrom the budget of Talsi municipality. The purpose ofthe Commission is to perform supervision of public

security and order in the territory of Talsi municipalityby coordinating its work with law enforcement institutionsin Talsi municipality.

The main tasks of the Commission are:• analysing the security situation in the municipality;• performing activities for detecting causes of offences

and their elimination;• performing coordination of public order and

population security ensurance procedures, researchand development of proposals;

• analysing, systemizing the committed violations ofpublic order to understand their causes and to developproposals for their elimination;

• summarising and analysing the delivered proposalsin the issues of ensuring public order;

• following-up the performance of preventive work inthe municipality: to eliminate possibilities ofpurchasing alcohol outside the period set forth bylaw, toeradicte theconsumption of alcohol inunpermitted places, as well as supervising how thepresence of children in the streets or other publicplaces in the absence of adults, during the hourswhen legal acts forbid such, is being controlled;

• developing proposals to the Talsi Municipality Councilwithin its competence;

• cooperating with municipality, state and publicinstitutions in the issues of public order ensurance.41

Inter-disciplinary problem solving is being used in boththe work of the Public Order Commission and theAdvisory Council with risk families as well as in everydaywork of the police.

Several examples should be mentioned when a solutionfor security problems indicated by the population hasbeen found by joint involvement of various institutions.

7.3. Problem Solving Methods as a Constant Principle of Police Work

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41 Bylaws of Talsi Municipality Public Order Commission of 27.08.2009.(Available at: http://talsi.case.lv/upload_file/nolikumi/Sabiedriskas_kartibas_komisijas_nolikums.PDF)

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Example 1. Entertainment Club

Cars drive into the parking area next to the entertainmentclub (which had been indicated by the population in thesurvey as an unsafe site), the persons in the cars listento loud music and fighting often takes place at the doorof the entertainment site. The owner of the club onlyprovides for order inside the club. The population is notsatisfied with the loud behaviour and music.

By using SARA (study, analysis, reacting and assessment)and PAT (problem analysis triangle),42 we can mark out:• the site – surroundings of the club, parking area next

to the club.• offenders – drivers and passengers of cars, visitors

of the club.• victims – residents of the surrounding houses.

To solve the problem, any of these three componentswhich are involved in the problem situation should beeliminated. Evacuating residents of surrounding houseswould not be efficient, therefore one should start with thesite and the offenders.

Study – swearing, loud music, disturbing noise.

Analysis – parking area is lit, public order is not beingensured near the club, police have received complaintsearlier, but the activities performed have provided no result.

Reacting. Police decides that impact on the site and theoffenders should be made. Amendments to the bindingregulations of the municipality are then introduced incooperation with the municipality by obliging the ownerof the club to provide for public order not only inside theclub, but also in a 50 meter radius around the club. Theowner of the club is made responsible for the site.

The traffic sign „Parking” of the parking place next to theclub was supplemented by an additional sign „Switch offthe engine”. The purpose of this activity is to influencethe offenders, the youth who are not entitled to listen toloud music any more due to the new traffic sign.

Assessment – upon violation of requirements of thesetraffic signs the persons could be brought to administrativeliability. After the performed activities, the number ofcomplaints by the population about the noise in the abovesite minimised.

Example 2. A Shop in a Small Town

The area around the shop in the town centre was indicatedas an unsafe place in the survey of ValdemÇrpils population,where youth used to drive their cars into the parking placeand make noise. There was no lighting in this place.

The district officer, in cooperation with the municipalityand the owner of the shop, managed to arrange lightingof the place. The municipality installed the lamp whilethe owner of the shop connected the electricity on his ownaccount. After these events, complaints of the populationon offences near this shop minimised.

This kind of possibilities for solving problems have alsobeen used in other cases to solve security problemsindicated by the population in the vicinity of their residence.

Using the problem solving (SARA) method and the problemanalysis triangle (PAT) makes one switch from reacting tothe event to performing activities for the purpose ofeliminating the possibility of the offence. However, toperform and implement it, respective staff training isrequired, but the problems solved should become one ofthe criteria for the assessment of police work.

42 For more information see Crime Analysis in 60 Steps / Ronald V. Clarke, John E. Eck; [translated by Aiga Veckalne]. Riga : State Police, 2011, pages 25-28. (Available at: http://www.vp.gov.lv/faili/sadalas/noziedzibas_analize_60_solos_gramata.pdf)

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Ti‰nov is a town with approximately fifteen thousandresidents and twenty five policemen who also take careof several smaller villages in the vicinity. Problems hadlong been caused in this town by drawers of graffiti.Expansion of graffiti was partially minimised by the newlegal acts in which the drawing of graffiti was classifiedas an offence and the system of surveillance camerasinstalled in the town centre, however there was no realorder – new drawings appeared in the wagon park of thestation again and again. Policemen were not able to waiteach night for the graffiti drawers to show up or not, sothey decided to look for another solution.

After learning the situation in more detail (policemencontacted representatives of the railway) it appeared thatthe problem is not in damages caused, because withrespect to the written-off wagons those were tiny, but inthe fact that drawers of graffiti were moving around thestation territory which was closed to outsiders. Besidesthe fact that drawers of graffiti were not entitled to be

there, the security of graffiti drawers was of special concernto the representatives of Czech Railway, especially at night,when cargo trains move at high speeds.

Negotiations gradually involved the secretary of theChairman of the Council, a representative of the firebrigade, the school headmaster, representatives of thetraffic department and child care department of the councilmoreover, one of the drawers of graffiti also provided somehelp. Finally, awarding a lawful and safe square for drawinggraffiti was found to be an effective solution. One of theinvited participants of the negotiations, the Road andRailway Directorate, possessed such a square. Nevertheless,this square was allowed for lawful drawing of graffitiunder two conditions: the graffiti drawers will tidy thevicinity of the square and no new drawings will appearin the closed territories.

As far as is known, this agreement reached several yearsago is still being complied with.

7.3.1. Foreign Practice in Using the Problem Analysing Method: Example of Czech Police43

Example 1. Graffiti – Talking is Enough

Example 2. „A Council of Three” for Security

An atypical, though effective model for monitoring securityin town was established in Sokolov. The Head of the Sokolovdistrict unit divided the town sections and assigned thoseto individual policemen. At the same time, he agreed onthe same division with the Sokolov town police. One ofthe members of the Town Council became the third ineach of such sections.

Thereby representatives of the Czech police, elected citycouncil members and the town police formed a sort ofsecurity council in the district which, thanks to mass media,is well known to the local population. Along with reactingto problems, its work is mainly related to systematiccommunication with the public; they jointly address local

population, meet them, and obtain information about what,as the population believes, is required and exchangeinformation.

Thanks to such a council the Czech policeman has threepairs of eyes and ears – he has a great overview of hissection and the cooperation partners support his effortsin solving particular problems. However, the issue ofresponsibility is also related to this, as the policeman isnot assessed according to the administrative workperformed by him, but as to whether there is order in hissection and whether the population of the section issatisfied with the policeman’s work.

43 Hrinko M., To‰ovsky M. Examples from the Czech Republic Police Northern Moravia Regional Authority Ostrava Department Practice. [Materials of the introductory seminar of the project Community Policing in Latvia. Talsi, September 2009.]

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Example 3. Football Hooligans

Football is one of the most popular sports in the CzechRepublic, but like in other countries it is, unfortunately,also supplemented by violent fan behaviour. Untilrecently violence in stadiums was actually the task ofCzech police – fully equipped policemen patrolled thestadiums and were ready to get involved in a fight againstradical fans at any moment.

The situation has changed since the New Year afterdebates of police and football associations’ representatives– Czech police have moved outside the stadium and hasformally transferred the responsibility to organisers(after all it is their private company), but it does notmean that policemen would not solve any situation in

the stadium; just the opposite – they do, but using othermeans. Prior to every game, representatives of footballclubs, security agencies monitoring the stadium andCzech police meet and jointly evaluate the risks of thecompetition. Operative information of police is especiallyvaluable in order to perform sufficient security activitiesand the eventual risks would not be estimated too low.

The stadium operators are actually taking care of thesecurity themselves and police are only supportingthem. While pleasant changes for the audience are thatfences, which separate the game field from platformsof spectators, are gradually being removed from thestadiums.

Example 4. Firemen against Drugs

The number of drug users started to grow rapidly in Brno,especially the number of toluene sniffers, moreover, thegroup of users more often tended to include childrenunder fifteen because this drug was available to themboth financially and physically (it was possible to purchasetoluene in the shops of household goods).

The laws limiting access to habit-forming substances(alcohol, tobacco) do not include organic solvents andtherefore it seemed that there is no way to make accessof youth to toluene more difficult. Nevertheless, thesolution was found, though it was not by police, but byfiremen. The law On Protection against Fire sets forth theduty to abide to technical regulations and instructionsrelating to the fire safety of products, but the instructions

for use of organic solvents usually provide for their storagein places not accessible to children. If these regulationsare not obeyed, the administrative (in this case the regionalfire and rescue) authority may impose sanctions (whichcannot be done by police). When such argument wasused, it was not difficult to persuade the sellers tocooperate, and toluene was removed from free trade andwas issued only to those who could verify that they areover 15 years old.

This imperfect law has currently been eliminated, butthe example provided illustrates very well that supposedlyunsolvable situations may be solved, too. And though thepolicemen are not able to do it directly, the key to thesolution was and is the initiative of the policemen.

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Mutual hate and mistrust between the policemen andRoma have been in place for a long time. Quite oftenRoma in the Czech Republic live in not too favourableconditions – in the apartments intended for those notpaying rent and socially unfavourable citizens. Thesituation could possibly improve if there were more Romaon the police force, but they do not strive to work therevery much.

In several towns this situation has been solved by usingthe so-called Roma assistant to the police – those areemployees of the municipality or local non-profitorganisations who mainly represent the socially isolatedRoma territories and their task is building bridges betweenthe Roma populations and the police. They patrol togetherwith the policemen and get involved in solving problemslearned during such patrol. In this way, it is being provedthat actually police are not an unfriendly institution.

Thanks to the Roma assistants it has been possible todetect and document unlawful activities directly affectingthe Roma community, especially with respect to the eventsof loan sharking and blackmailing. The Roma assistantsare not only the source of valuable information, but alsoa bridge over the deep abyss of mistrust as is the usualattitude of Roma towards police. The work of assistantsis paid for by the town councils or non-profit organisations.

Why not do something in a different way, if it works anddoes not require financing?

The above examples demonstrate how diverse thecommunity policing approach can be. Policemen are stilllooking for ways to implement it sometimes, more andsometimes less successfully, , but there are places wherecommunity policing has really become the main principlein determining the working days and relations of policemenwith the public in the location where the police areoperating. The most essential issue in the above examplesis that they reflect both the activities where it is notpossible to get along without favourable laws and theactivities where it requires only common sense, enthusiasmand attempting to do something notwithstanding howunfavourable the current conditions are.

The authority of the head of division and the requiredsupport from the regional authority maybe even moreimportant For implementing community policing, thanenthusiasm of policemen in the departments is Anyattempts to introduce changes are quite often verycomplicated, therefore the ability of police to implementthe ideas in practice is closely related to the abilities ofelecting the persons to leading positions who want andcan change the enrooted techniques. It is not just changingtools, but changing the attitude to operation of the wholeorganisation in general.

Example 5. Roma Assistant to the Police

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goes without saying that the publicexpects the State Police to provideinformation and advice on security issuesas well as trusts that police are performing

activities for preventing offences and other violations oflaw. Elimination of offences and other violations of laware some of the tasks of police established by the law OnPolice.44 The law On Police also sets forth the duties ofpolice staff in implementation of these tasks.45

It is important to clarify the causes and conditions whichfacilitate committing the offence or another violation oflaw, because only by performing targeted activities forelimination of causes and facilitating conditions we mayspeak about successful prevention, rather thancontinuously fighting with the consequences.46 TheCriminal Procedure Law does not set forth the duty todiscover causes and conditions that facilitatecommittingthe offence any more. Such duty has remained only with

respect to administrative violations.47 However,notwithstanding the possibility provided by law to provideproposals on the need for activities to eliminate the causesof administrative violations and their facilitatingconditions, such an option is not always used.

Unfortunately, in the police work so far, the emphasishas been on detection of offences and other violations oflaw, but their prevention has been left untouched. Theabove is directly related to the demand for detection ofoffences, the number of criminal procedures deliveredto the prosecutor’s office for commencing prosecutionand the number of drafted administrative protocols.There are also circumstances developed for the policestaff to be more interested in detecting grave or especiallygrave crimes and investigating criminal proceduresrather than in performing the prevention work (whichessentially is the elimination of these grave and especiallygrave crimes).48

8. The Importance of Preventive Activitiesin Police Work

It

44 The law On Police of 04.06.1991, Part One of Section 3.45 The duty of any police officer throughout the entire territory of the Republic of Latvia, regardless of the position held by him or her, location or

time, shall be, in cases when persons address the officer with an application or a report about an incident which endangers the security ofpersons or the public, or if the officer determines such an incident himself or herself, to take all measures possible to prevent a violation of thelaw (Section 9 of the law On Police). Pursuant to the tasks of police and according to what is discussed in Part One of Section 10 of the law OnPolice the basic duties of a police officer, in conformity with the competence of the service, are, for example, the following: to conduct investigationspursuant to the requirements of the law; to conduct the necessary operative searches and other measures prescribed by law in order to detect,stop or prevent criminal offences; to prevent and stop administrative violations; within the scope of his or her authority, disclose the causes ofcriminal offences and administrative violations and contributing circumstances to such, and carry out measures to prevent such; participate inproviding the legal education of persons, etc. (Paragraphs 4, 6, 7 of Part One of Section 10 of the law On Police).

46 Section 48 (Discovering the Causes and Conditions Facilitating Committing the Offence) of Latvian Criminal Procedure Code (LCPC) which was inforce till October 2005 provided that the during the pre-trial investigation and the trial of the criminal case investigating institution, the prosecutorand the court should discover the causes and conditions which have facilitated committing the offence.

47 Section 237 (Tasks of record-keeping in administrative violation cases) of Latvian Administrative Violations Code (the AVC) sets forth that oneof the tasks in administrative violation cases is to ascertain the causes and circumstances which promote the commitment of the administrativeviolation, as well as to prevent the violations and to bring up the citizens in the spirit of law abiding and to strengthen lawfulness. While Section278 of the AVC (Proposals regarding elimination of causes and facilitating circumstances for commitment of administrative violations) sets forththat The institution (official), which adjudicates the matter, having determined causes and facilitating circumstances for commitment of violation,shall submit the proposals to the relevant merchants, institutions, organisations and officials regarding the necessity to carry out measures forelimination of these causes and circumstances. The above organisations and persons have the duty to notify the institution (official), which hassubmitted a proposal, of the measures performed within one month from the day of the receipt of the proposal.

48 Paragraph 2 of Annex 4 Bonus for Service Related to Special Risk and for Conditions Related to Specifics of the Service of the 21.06.2010 Regulationsof the Cabinet of Ministers No. 568 Regulations on Monthly Salary and Special Bonuses for Officials of Institutions within the System of the Ministryof Interior and the Prison Administration provides for a bonus for combating grave crimes of up to LVL 200 (about EUR 284); Paragraph 7 – forthe officials performing pre-trial investigation, of up to LVL 100 (about EUR 143), but for the officials directly performing, organising or managingspecial activities in prevention and detection of violations of law – up to LVL 20 – about EUR 28 (Paragraph 10).

revention of offences (preventive work)is an integral part of the police work.Unfortunately, during recent years is hasnot always been a priority of the State

Police and the Ministry of Interior, which has beenexplained by insufficient human resources and lack ofmaterial resources. Attention has been mainly andsuccessfully paid to preventive work in schools andkindergartens as well as to issues of traffic safety. Therehas been support provided in the field of traffic safety byother state institutions and insurance companies also(Traffic safety Council, BALTA, etc.) which is an examplethat good results in this work may be best attained byworking in a team.

Preventive activities of the State Police in the field oftraffic safety have been financed by the Traffic safetyCouncil for nine years already. The Prevention Board isusing these funds to develop various handouts on trafficsafety every year, which upgrade the preventive workand facilitate the improvement of the traffic safetysituation.49

A campaign Be seen (Esi redzams) takes place every yearduring the period from 1 November and it informs aboutthe importance of reflectors in traffic safety. The StatePolice staff annually participate in the campaign SecurityDays (Dro‰¥bas dienas) throughout Latvia which takesplace in schools, kindergartens and other institutions.Over several years the characters created by the StatePolice for the children audience, Tomcat Rdis and BeaverBruno, have become recognised by the children inkindergartens and schools. During the campaign SafeSummer – Your Summer (Dro‰a vasara – Tava vasara)(took place from April to August 2011) 1,988 preventiveactivities were organised in various educationalinstitutions, children and youth centres and camps. Withinthe campaign Security Days at Schools – 2011 (Dro‰¥basdienas skolÇs – 2011) (took place in September 2011)1,552 preventive activities in various educationalinstitutions, children and youth centres were organised.

The greatest interest during the campaigns has beeninitiated by preventive activities which provide educationin the field of traffic safety and tell about the mutualrelations of students as well as explain the issues of legalrelations.

Notwithstanding the above discussion, it should beadmitted the State Police lacks, however, targeted activitiesin other target audiences – general prevention in youth,adult and senior age groups. For example, the Czechexperience in planning and implementing preventionactivities is better considered. The state strategy for crimeprevention has been developed by the Ministry of Interiorof the Czech Republic since 1997. Financing ofapproximately three million Euros is assigned annuallyfor prevention projects in the country. One of the conditionsfor the project is cooperation between the police and thelocal government. The Ministry of Interior of the CzechRepublic is currently preparing a new strategy for2012–2015. They intend to change the emphasis from theso-called primary prevention to focused prevention whichis related to particular offences and offenders – it is morerelated to identifying and solving of local security problems.

There is similar experience in Estonia and Lithuania aswell, where police services draft their crime preventionstrategies by defining priorities for individual targetgroups.50

The issue of crime prevention in the Republic of Latviais currently addressed in the declaration of thegovernment.51 Though there are important prioritiesmentioned in the declaration, it cannot be the only basisfor planning everyday prevention work. The State Policeshould develop its own crime prevention strategy.

The main precondition of prevention – if we want to dosomething, it should be done here and now, because it isalways easier to find reasons to postpone doing something(for example, absence of funding or human resources)than to pay more attention to police prevention work. Inthe ideal situation, prevention work can also become a

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8.1. Preventive Activities in the State Police

P

possibility for resource saving. Of course, it won’t be easyto prove the relation between activities performed andthe offence which has not happened and which wouldeventually have caused much greater financial damage.Upon performing calculations of costs which would occurin investigating the offence, detaining the suspects andperforming pre-trial investigation, the volume of statefunds required would be much greater.52

Along with the already existing possibilities of workingin the field of prevention within the organisation, policeservices abroad are trying to attract additional fundingand support for the introduction of various preventionactivities by using both the possibilities of the EuropeanUnion funds and non-governmental organisations and

private partners. Therefore, when prevention projectsare introduced, police staff needs to acquire the skillsfor implementing their idea and, if required, also theabilities to allow for drafting the project application oraddressing potential partners for attracting the funds.As long as project management skills are not speciallytaught as part of the police work, their acquisitionrequires time and experience.

Because a wide range of methodology materials onproject development is available in the public space,more information in this book will be devoted to thespecifics of a project developed in the field of preventionin police service.

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49 Review on Juvenile Delinquency, Suffering Children, Condition in the Field of Traffic and Prevention in 2010. R., State Police Chief Order PoliceAuthority Prevention Board, 2011; Review on Juvenile Delinquency, Suffering Children, Condition in the Field of Traffic and Prevention in 2011. R., StatePolice Chief Order Police Authority Prevention Board, 2012. (Available at: http://www.vp.gov.lv/faili/relizes/2011_PARSKATS.doc)

50 Crime prevention strategies of the EU countries are available on the homepage http://www.eucpn.org/strategies/index.asp51 Declaration on envisaged activities of the Cabinet of Ministers led by Valdis Dombrovskis. (Available at: http://www.mk.gov.lv/lv/mk/darbibu-

reglamentejosie-dokumenti/valdibasdek/)52 See sub-chapter Community Policing Assessment Criteria of the chapter The Standards Characterising Democratic Police Organisation.

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ny project begins with a project idea. Ifthe idea has earned sufficient support inthe company or in a like-minded groupthen the work on its implementation may

be started. The project ideas may occur:• within the police staff as a result of discussions and

meetings;• when learning about good practices in a training

seminar or during an experience exchange visit;• when analysing the statistics available to police

(including the statistics available from other stateinstitutions and the data of surveys of the population);

• during cooperation with non-governmentalorganisations and interest groups of the populationwhich have identified the issues to be solved;

• from the experience of experienced police staff orpersonal experience in contact with the population.

By discussing the idea with potential cooperation partnersand representatives of the target group, the vital capacityof the project idea and the desire of cooperation partnersto get involved in implementation of these activities maybe assessed. When the project team is formed, eachparticipant should have a role in the procedure of activityimplementation. In many cases discussions with theresponsible representatives of municipalities and otherstate institutions are required, because their supportduring implementation of project activities may turn outespecially important and significant. This also relates toresources and databases which are available already, forexample, for distribution of information of a preventivenature – homepages, free municipality newsletter for thepopulation and other possibilities.

There are several organisations in Europe which promotein their work the importance of crime prevention inguaranteeing the sense of security for the population.One of the wide-known organisations among lawenforcement institutions is the European Crime PreventionNetwork.53

There is wide information available in English on theprojects of non-governmental organisations and suchprojects developed together with the police and publicsuch as Neighbourhood Watch, Community Alert and otherinitiatives, and the samples of prevention handouts andproject ideas may be found, too.

Within this project, we tried to study the experience ofthe Czech Republic police in the field of preventionprojects. During the international seminars arrangedwithin the project, the participants were informed aboutthe following projects implemented in the Czech Republic:• The campaign A car is not a safe, during which the

population is informed about the need to avoid leavingvaluable things in the car. The idea had occurred byanalysing the statistics available to police with respectto an increase in the numbers of theft from cars. Theinitial idea was born in Britain.

• The campaign Policeman of your street, during whichpolice staff tried to be identified in their serviceterritories (including bigger towns and blocks ofbuildings). The idea had occurred by researchingforeign experience for the purpose of bringing thepopulation and police of big cities closer together.

• The campaign Stop 24. Special stickers are printedfor the cars which indicate that the car is not beingused during night time. The aim of the project –making identification of such cars easier in the eventof theft.

• The project Seniors for themselves for older people.The most active seniors were trained during theproject, who later distributed further, among theirfriends and acquaintances, the information on securityissues and the ways of not becoming a victim of anoffence. Special handouts, the senior security bags,were also distributed to the seniors. The bag containedvarious booklets with security advice and informationhotlines, reflectors and reflecting elements as wellas noise signals for sounding the alarm. The main

8.2. Prevention Project Ideas and the Course of their Development

A

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idea of the project – the most active seniors of thevicinity feel useful for the public and help the policeto reach the target audience which is not alwaysreached by the policemen themselves. The idea hasevolved after research of statistics of the recentlygrowing number of offences in which the victimshave been older people.

• The project Police hand that was implemented insupermarkets and other public places with the aimto alert the population about pick-pocketing and toinvite them not to leave their belongings unattended.If a person had left his/her belongings unattended,a brochure in the form of a hand was put into his/herbag, containing suggestions developed by the policewith respect to security. Similar campaigns, nowwith youth participation, have been implemented byusing potatoes which were put into unattended bags.The project idea had occurred by analysing theincrease of pick-pocketing in supermarkets of theparticular vicinity and complaints of the population.

• Distribution of various informational materials amongpolice staff – the pocket-format informationalmaterials on various subjects (for example,identification of a drug user and advice for thepoliceman’s action; advice on activities whenattending the call of domestic violence, etc.). A totalof seventeen different subjects were elaborated. Theproject idea had occurred after meeting with a lackof knowledge of policemen about particular actionsexpected from them in concrete situations. The mainpurpose to unite the prevention work theory withpractice and educating the police staff by makingtheir work easier.54

Cooperation with mass media was of special importancein these projects; they were informed about the courseof the project from its beginning to the very end, andthey provided additional support.

Considering the practice of State Police of Latvia inthe field of prevention and the available State Policestatistics on offences committed during this project,

we tried to devote additional attention to preventionprojects related to adults. We implemented severalpublic information campaigns in the course of theproject which were aimed at educating the populationon various security issues.

The campaign A car is not a safe was carried out firstand it received a wide response from the public andpolice staff. Handouts of the campaign, air freshenersfor cars with attached information material for thepopulation, were distributed throughout Latvia. A totalof more than 90,000 copies of prevention materialswere distributed. The idea of the campaign wasborrowed from foreign experience, because theft fromcars is a widespread problem in Latvia, too, especiallyin the region of Riga.

Information campaign on security of the property – abrochure for the population for assessment of securityof the property. The idea was borrowed from foreignexperience and the information available on internet.A total of 50,000 copies were distributed. The brochuregained popularity among the population and housemanagers because it provided the ideas and thepossibility to assess the security of personal propertywithout the presence of the police staff.

The campaign on possibilities of filing the complaintabout the work of the State Police. As long as one ofthe basic principles of police work in democratic societyis the possibility to appeal unlawful actions of policestaff, 10,000 brochures in Latvian and 5,000 brochuresin Russian were prepared within the project and theywere distributed in police stations as well as by otherlaw enforcement institutions and those working in thefield of human rights.

The campaign Cyclist security. The ever increasingnumber of cyclists on the streets of Riga hassignificantly changed the situation there. Unfortunately,it also relates to many unsolved issues from theperspective of pedestrian and driver security. Accordingto the statistics available to the State Police the numberof cyclists under the influence of alcohol increases

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every year. There were 50,000 brochures in Latvian and25,000 brochures in Russian distributed to the population.It is still necessary to improve the culture of using bicycleson the roads and cycling passages, therefore it is suggestedthat the work started should be continued.

By using the existing preventive work at schools andother educational institutions, the information materialfor youth Be Free! (55,000 in Latvian and 40,000 inRussian) was distributed within the campaign „SecurityDays at Schools”. Notwithstanding the annual frequencyof the campaign, there is still a lack of handouts for thestudents. Such materials should be prepared anddistributed every year.

Special response and interest among the population wascaused by the campaign for the seniors and the policealarm buttons, or the self-defence device with the soundsignal, distributed among representatives of professionsworking on night shifts. There were 3,000 handoutsdistributed during the campaign, however, consideringthe interest and response of the population, it should beconcluded that their number could be much larger andrepeating a similar campaign within the next projectshould be considered. The above mentioned campaigndemonstrated that the internal sense of security of thepopulation plays an important role and that they aregrateful to police for such kinds of preventive advice and,of course, for the obtained self-defence device.

Many project ideas may be implemented with minimumfinance, but if required, then financing can always befound for a good idea.

A project manager or persons implementing it shouldanswer several questions:

• What do we want to attain or change with this project(awareness of population about the crime risks,decreasing the number of offences in the particularvicinity, etc.)?

• What is the project target group (children, students,youth, adults, seniors, drivers, internet users, policestaff, etc.)?

• What means do we need in order to attain change(provision of information, auxiliary materials andhandouts, training, public involvement, etc.)?

• What resources are available to us already (forexample, human resources, premises, knowledge andexisting cooperation, volunteers, etc.)?

• What and how much funding is required (money orother resources required for project implementation– time, premises, media support, notification of staff,etc.)?

• What are the possible ways of attracting funding(project tenders, municipality support, donations,support from private partners and companies)?

• What are the conditions for attracting funding –guidelines for developers of application for projecttender (who can apply, what is the required co-financing, what costs and in what amount is thepotential project supporter prepared to cover, withinwhat period the project should be implemented andother questions which are usually described in moredetail in the guidelines for those filing the projectapplications)?

When you have answered these questions, the applicationforms and the list of documents to be filed which relateto the chosen project tender should be researched indue time. This will provide more time and possibility todraft a good project application. Quite often, the periodfrom the moment of announcing the project tender tillthe moment of filing the project application is veryshort, therefore due preparation will help in achievinga successful result.

And if you also contact private partners, you will leavea better impression if these issues are over in advanceand you will be able to present your idea as accuratelyas possible.

In the police practice of the Czech Republic, there is anexample of good cooperation with a private beer brewerywhich has supported a project with the aim of limitingdrinking and drunk driving. The interest of police in

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this project was to support the law abiding drivers byhanding out useful police handouts to them (for example,parasols and information brochures containing policeadvice) while the interest of the private partner in thiscase was in advertising the company and its new product:alcohol-free beer. This campaign has taken place severalyears in a row.

Such types of cooperation projects with producers andinsurance companies are possible in Latvia, too. Successfulcooperation with Joint Stock Company Balta wasimplemented in 2011 – research was performed on theftfrom the properties and the data from it were used toprepare the information of a preventive nature and weredistributed to the population through mass media.

53 For more information about this network visit http://www.eucpn.org/.54 Projects have been implemented in the Czech Republic Southern Moravia Region police, including the City of Brno. Materials prepared by

S. Svabodova and M. Hrinko have been used in the project description.

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he final conference of the projectCommunity policing in Eastern Europe –achievements and next steps took placeon 13 and 14 March 2012. More than 60

participants were present at the conference, the largestnumber of them from Latvia.

The purpose of the conference was to gather policerepresentatives of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, CzechRepublic and Poland and to exchange experiences inintroduction of the community policing methods in thecountries of the former Soviet Union. The following mainissues were proposed for discussion: police partnershipwith local public, municipality and other institutions;police work planning and use of data in planningprevention activities. One of the most essential issueswas related to possibilities of practical introduction ofcommunity policing methods in big cities as well as thecriteria for district officers’ work assessment..

At the end of the conference several working groupswere organised for the purpose of agreeing on theproposals for introduction of community policingmethods in the State Police. Instead of the findings, theproject team suggests the proposals for successfulintroduction of community policing methods in Latviadeveloped by the participants of the conference.

By summarising the opinions of participants it wasconcluded that introduction of community policingmethods should be essentially based on threecornerstones:1. the role of top management and the immediate

supervisor;2. creation of conditions required for introduction of

community policing methods – change of day-tale,bonus assessment criteria and assessment andadditional payment criteria;

3. training.

For the Findings

T

The majority of participants admitted that popularisationof community policing approach and idea on allmanagement levels is required, however the importanceand support of the State Police top management and theteam of central administration was recognised as themost essential. The top to bottom approach was consideredas advisable model for introduction of community policingmethods, i.e. the top management shall direct the ideasto heads of the regions, heads of the regions shall forwardthose to heads of the departments, until finally they reachthe district officers. The top management shall undertakethe popularisation of the new approach until it becomesa work philosophy of the entire State Police staff. Thestaff indicated that it will not be possible to introduce

community policing methods in the State Police withoutthe management and a systemic approach, because „thephilosophy must come from the top”. Besides thepopularisation of the idea, a vision and the green light forits introduction are also required. A particular aim thatwe want to attain should be formulated in the vision.Also, the community policing approach should be includedin the strategic documents.

When developing the community policing introductionstrategy „the top anagement should listen to the lowestlevel workers”. It was also emphasised that it is notpossible to introduce community policing methodssimply „by means of an order” (without explaining the

The Role of Top Management and the Immediate Supervisor

65

methods and involving all services of the State Police).

There were also participants, though, who believe that itis possible to introduce community policing methodsboth from the bottom and the top of the chain of command,because the greatest role is played by the immediatesupervisor and personal desire of everyone to work usingmodern methods. „A head who wants to evolve himself”was mentioned as one of the keys.

Though the project proved that community policingactivities may be introduced as pilot projects only withthe support of the head of department, such approach

should be left for the testing stage of the ideas. It cannot

be denied that changes may be introduced more

successfully only and solely with the support of the

management. As long as introduction of community

policing methods requires changing the police work

philosophy, it definitely must be supported on the level

of the top management. At the same time, if the

management level has dozed off with introduction of

required changes, the the lowest level workers may create

precedents by demonstrating that it is possible to work

differently.

Simple popularisation of the idea will not be enough tointroduce the community policing approach in everydaywork of the police. For the vision to live and for everypolice staff member to believe that the commitment ofthe management to introduce community policingmethods is serious, particular conditions should becreated for it. The first task to be done by the top policemanagement and the most essential evidence that thepolice are ready to change is the equalisation of theimportance of prevention work to the detection ofcriminal procedures.

It should be possible to receive appropriate bonus forthe implemented prevention projects or activities, forexample, up to LVL 100 – about EUR 143 (such existsat the moment for the detection of criminal procedures).Until the bonuses are equalised, the talk of managementand politicians on the importance of prevention andreviving the role of the district officer in the police issmall talk.

Along with reviewing the system of bonuses, the policework day-tale criteria should be reviewed and manyneedless reports about which it is often said „theprevention service sometimes does not know itself whatall of the statistics are needed for” must be cancelled.

To the extent possible, the district officers should berelieved from reports and criminal procedures. Thecurrent police work day-tale „does not provide the districtofficer with the opportunity to reflect the volume ofhis/her prevention work by solving security problemsin the vicinity or performing communication of a differentnature with the population”. This system also does notinclude reporting about, for example, the unsafe siteswhich have been dealt with/put in order together withcooperation partners. Such kind of work performed forthe benefit of the public „is also not mentioned insidethe organisation and it is not reflected in annual reports”.

Reviewing the work duties on a daily basis and workplanning skills of the head are of great importance, too.If the management wants to put the work of districtofficers in order by also providing the opportunity ofspending time outside the office, the officer will createconditions to perform these duties. Management of thedepartment may also indicate the needs of the publicand the topical issues when assigning the daily worktasks.

Selecting appropriate staff for both district officer andmanagement positions was mentioned as essential also,because communication skills and receptiveness in

Creation of conditions required for the introduction of community policing methodsand change of assessment criteria.

66

Training and educating the staff were mentioned as oneof the solutions for introduction of community policingmethods and the related change of thinking „frompunitive to service provision”.

The role of State Police College and its ability to providetraining on community policing methods and philosophywere discussed and it was noted that „theory is not inline with the practice” and that „lecturers should befound outside the system”. It was indicated that „service-oriented police work” should be taught in college andtraining courses related to subjects of legal acts shouldbe more balanced with those related to communicationwith people and collaboration partners and those

strengthening the personal value of a policeman as aprofessional.

The possible solutions mentioned included involvingthose persons who „have already tried” the communitypolicing methods in the capacity of lecturers, providingfor „study trips for enthusiasts to foreign countries” aswell as publishing training literature on preventionissues.

Along with the three issues discussed above, theparticipants of the conference also mentioned the needfor cooperation with other institutions, for example, themunicipal police.

Training

„We are full of energy to introduce, continue and implement community policing. We shall use everyeffort to convince our colleagues of its expediency. Thank you!” 55

55 Quote from the summary of the project final conference Community policing in Eastern Europe – achievements and next steps assessmentquestionnaires.


working with the population are very important in thesepositions.

In addition to the above, there were also discussionsabout improving the work conditions, material andtechnical means and raising the salaries.

It was admitted that there is a need to consider theimprovement of internal communication throughout theentire State Police, because there are examples of goodpractice in many departments, but they are notsummarised together.

67

The organisation has its mission, vision and strategy.

Individually developed strategy in the field of crimeprevention is available.

In the big cities as well, police work with populationis organised so that the responsible staff could meetthe local population and their representatives regularly.

The time spent in the serviced territory ratio to thework with documents in the office is 40% to 60%. Staffshould be accessible to the population.

Population Surveys are performed regularly, thuslearning how the police work is assessed. The resultsof the surveys are one of the criteria for assessingpolice work and they are used as justification inevaluating salary increase or awarding bonuses.

No criminal cases are initiated for minor offencesrelated to property ; police only take account of those.

Preventive work is assessed on an equally high level– it is equal to the investigation of criminal cases.

Both quantity and quality indicators are used in workassessment, including also assessment of preventivework.

COMPARISON OF MAIN ASPECTS OF LATVIAN AND FOREIGN EXPERIENCEIN THE CONTEXT OF THE PROJECT

No such document is elaborated in the State Police ofLatvia.

There is no unified state strategy in the field of crimeprevention in Latvia.

The district officer service operates more or lesssuccessfully in rural areas and in small towns only.In big cities and in Riga, the population does not knowtheir district officer and police do not have goodknowledge of security problems of the local population.

District officers are mainly working with theinvestigation of criminal procedures and administrativeviolation cases. There are approximately 180 criminalprocedures processed by one officer in Riga on average.

Population Surveys have been performed in Latviawithin various projects since 2008; analysing dataand their use in the assessment of police work hasonly begun.

The initiation of the criminal procedure is set forthin the Criminal Procedure Law for minor offences aswell. Legislation initiatives to simplify the criminalprocedure have not gained sufficient support of thelegislator and the public so far.

The system of bonuses facilitates the detection ofoffences, but does not facilitate preventive work.(Additional payment for good preventive work is upto LVL 20 (about EUR 28), but for the investigation ofcriminal procedures it is up to LVL 100 – about EUR143).

Quantitative indicators are used in work assessment.There are no unified criteria for assessing preventivework.

Foreign Experience Latvian Experience

Annex 1

68

Foreign Experience Latvian Experience

Members of the public are being widely involved inensuring public order; individual responsibilities aredelegated to municipalities, house managers, parents,etc.

The police philosophy and principles of communitypolicing are set forth by legal acts.

The possibility of entering into cooperation agreementsand involving partners is also fixed in legal acts.

Regular training of commanding staff of the police isprovided and the subjects of the value system of theservice and effective management are especiallyemphasised there. Effective internal communicationis ensured and decisions adopted by management areexplained.

Annual public police report is widely available (it isa report specially prepared in the languageunderstandable to cooperation partners and thepopulation).

Reports on the work of particular police units at thelocal level and solutions of local security problemsare offered to the public, too.

The police use the problem solving method in theirwork and react to problems in their early stages.Special resources are allocated to this, too. The workdone is reflected in a manner understandable to thepublic.

Cooperation of police and the public in ensuring publicorder has only begun; quite often it depends on theinitiative of particular police staff. In general, thepublic are not informed about its duties andpossibilities of involvement in ensuring public order,and do not feel jointly responsible.

The law On Police is one of the oldest in Europe(adopted in 1991); discussions on elaboration of a newlaw have been started.

No such kind of training is offered to the commandingstaff of the State Police and many managers do notpossess the required knowledge, abilities and skills.

Many State Police staff members do not use the Intranetsystem due to various reasons. News magazines orother kinds of handouts for the staff are not developeddue to financial considerations.

State Police offers its work summary to the public;however it is a long and complicated document, difficultto understand for an ordinary citizen. Discussions ondevelopment of a new reporting format have beenstarted.

Reports on solutions of security problems in particularmunicipalities and districts from the resident’sperspective have been offered, so far, only in pilotareas of the project. Examples of successful cooperationare reflected only in individual cases.

The problem solving method is used in the State Policework in individual cases only. Such cases are notindividually taken account of and assessed. Reactingto facts which have occurred prevails. Current reportingcriteria developed by the State Police Chief OrderPolice Authority do not include the option for theirtaking account of and assessment.

69

POLICE WORK ASSESSMENT IN TALSI DEPARTMENTIN 2009–2011

Annex 2

Police work assessment of(within the scale from 1 to 10)

Number of population believingthat police work has improved

Identification of district officers

Satisfaction with the work ofdistrict officers

Sense of security during darkhours of day

Every person must get activelyinvolved in solving security issuesof his/her place of residence

At my place of residence, policeare easily accessible and available

At my place of residence policesuccessfully provide for orderand security

If possible, I avoid contactingthe police

At my place of residence, policeare well aware of the problemstroubling the population

At my place of residence, policeinvolve the population in solvingsecurity issues

200956

Was notmeasured

Was notmeasured

57 % knowthe districtofficer

Was notmeasured

75 %feel safe

90 % agree

64 % agree

56 % agree

59 % agree

47 % agree

26 % agree

6,3

55 %(24 % haveno opinion)


80 %satisfied

76 %feel safe

90 % agree

63 % agree

67 % agree

61 % agree

60 % agree

34 % agree

7,1

81 %(2 % haveno opinion)


87 %satisfied

85 %feel safe

99 % agree

63 % agree

76 % agree

91 % agree

59 % agree

43 % agree

-

-

+ 1 %

-

+ 1 %

+ 0 %

- 1 %

+ 11 %

+ 2 %

+ 13 %

+ 8 %

+ 0,8

+ 26 %

+ 25 %

+ 7 %

+ 9 %

+ 9 %

+ 13 %

- 2 %

+ 30 %

- 1 %

+ 9 %

201057 201158 Changesin 2010

Changesin 2011

No.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

56 The survey was conducted by MÇrketinga un sociÇlo pït¥jumu aÆentra Fieldex SIA. Time of survey: from 20 November till 14 December 2009.Sample volume reached: 1,006 respondents. Surveying method: Face to face interviews at places of residence of the respondents. Sampling principle: random representative selection pro rata general volume of population of Talsi, Dundaga and Roja municipalities.

57 The survey was conducted by FACTUM SIA. Time of survey: from December 2010 to January 2011. Sample volume reached: 1,010 respondents.Surveying method: quantitative research by using multi-modal approach for obtaining data and by performing computerised telephone interviews(CATI) and direct interviews (Street EYE). Sampling principle: representative selection of population in Kurzeme region by considering the principle of disproportion and by ensuring analysis of the results according to territorial division of the SP regional authorities.

58 The survey was conducted by FACTUM SIA. Time of survey: from 5 November till 17 November 2011. Sample volume reached: 1,082 respondents.Surveying method: quantitative research by using the direct interview method (PAPI). Sampling principle: representative selection of populationin Kurzeme region by considering the principle of disproportion and by ensuring analysis of the results according to territorial division of the SP regional authorities.

59 Overview of results of work of the SP Kurzeme Regional Authority and its structural units in 201160 Overview of results of work of the SP Kurzeme Regional Authority and its structural units in 2011

70

Number of registeredoffences59

Number of registered thefts60

200956 201057 201158 Changesin 2010

Changesin 2011

No.

935

534

750 (-185)

455 (-79)

671 (-79)

391 (-64)

- 19,8 %

- 14,8 %

- 11,7 %

- 16,4 %

12.

13.

WORK PRIORITIES FOR THE STATE POLICE KURZEME REGIONAL AUTHORITYTALSI DEPARTMENT IN 2010–2012 (SUMMARY)

Annex 3

We are here for Your safety.

71

Task 1: informing the wider public about the policework by working in close cooperation with otherpartners

Activities:• preparation of a planning document on priorities of

police work• discussion of the work plan with cooperation partners

(municipalities, schools, businesses, NGOs, etc.)• provision of an overview on the work done in solving

security problems indicated by the public

Task 2: learning, once a year, the opinion of the localpopulation about security problems and the sense ofsecurity at their places of residence

Activities:• to conduct, at the end of each year, the survey of the

local population about their sense of security, satisfaction with police work, learning the topical security problems and other issues

Task 1: developing close cooperation with municipalitiesby notifying them about security problems indicatedby the public and by looking for joint solutions

Activities:joint solution of the following problems:• insufficient lighting• wandering animals• leisure facilities for youth in municipalities• control of compliance with traffic rules• alcohol consumption in public places• dealing with the unsafe sites indicated by the public

in Talsi, Roja and Dundaga municipalities

Task 2: performing activities to reduce the numberof theft in Talsi, Roja and Dundaga municipalities

Activities:• to improve the knowledge of the population about

the aspects of personal security• to perform activities aimed at decreasing the number

of burglaries from apartments,shops and cars; to prevent theft of bicycles

Aim 1:To increase the level of trust and satisfaction ofthe population with the police work

Aim 2:To enhance the sense of security of the populationof Talsi, Roja and Dundaga municipalities bydecreasing the number of offences


72

Aim 1:To increase the level of trust and satisfaction ofthe population with the police work

Aim 2:To enhance the sense of security of the populationof Talsi, Roja and Dundaga municipalities bydecreasing the number of offences

Task 3: solving the problems indicated by the localpublic

Activities:• to use the results of the population survey for police

work planning and cooperation with other cooperation partners

Task 4: to improveg the police staff communicationskills

Activities:• to provide for the training required for the police

staff

Task 3: addressing the expressions of anti-socialbehaviour of youth within the competence of police

Activities:• police staff in cooperation with other institutions

will control the presence of youth in the streetsbeyond the permitted hours

• inspectors for cases involving minors will participatein parents’ meetings and will inform the parentsabout their liability during respective age periodsof the child as well as about the offences most oftencommitted by minors

• performing spot checks and regular inspections ofyouth gathering sites

• performing activities to improve the knowledge ofyouth about personal security (lectures, discussions,excursions)

Task 4: performing activities for improving trafficsafety

Activities:• police will address the drag racing problem• to involve district officers in control of traffic rules

by paying special attention to abiding the speed limitin the residential areas

Task 5: performing activities for controlling the saleof alcohol and its consumption in public places

Activities:• police will combat the places of sale of illegal alcohol• police will bring to administrative liability the persons

consuming alcohol in public places• police will control the sale of alcohol to minors


73

To conduct, at the end of the year, the survey of thelocal population about their sense of security,satisfaction with police work, to learn the topicalsecurity problems.

Increase in the number of population who believe thatpolice are aware of the opinion of the local populationabout security problems at their places of residence.

Task 2: once a year, learning the opinion of the local population about security problems and the senseof security at their places of residence

Using the results of the population survey for policework planning and cooperation with other collaborattionpartners.

Increase in the number of population who believe thatpolice is solving the problems indicated by local public.

Task 3: solving the problems indicated by the local public

To provide for the training required for the police staff. Increase in the number of population who are satisfiedwith personal contact when coming in contact withthe police staff of the Talsi department.

Increase in the number of population who trust policeand are satisfied with the work done by police.

Task 4: improving the police staff communication skills

HOW SHALL WE KNOW WHETHER THE AIMS HAVE BEEN ATTAINED?

Drafting the planning document on the priorities ofpolice work.

Discussing the work plan with cooperation partners(municipalities, schools, businesses, NGOs, etc.)

Provision of an overview on work done in solvingsecurity problems indicated by the public.

Increase in the number of population who believe thatthey are informed about the police work.

Task/activities: How shall we evaluate whether the task/activityhas been attained

Task 1: informing the wider public about the police work by working in close cooperation with otherpartners

74

Annex 4

STATE POLICE KURZEME REGIONAL AUTHORITYTALSI DEPARTMENT REPORT TO THE POPULATION

ABOUT THE COMPLETED WORK IN 2010–2011

At the end of 2009, the police staff of the Talsi department changed the customary work methods forthe purpose of improving security, decreasing the registered offences and involving the population ofTalsi, Roja and Dundaga in solving local security problems.

Police introduced several changes in everyday work. First, police went out of the offices to meet thepopulation face to face and to provide more information about the police work. Second, police asked thelocal population about what troubles them in the field of security and, third, police involved and educatedthe local population in solving various security problems.

In this report, we would like to provide an overview on what has been done by the Talsi department in2010/2011.

We Asked YouAt the end of 2009, the police staff of the Talsi department performed the first survey of the populationfor the purpose of learning the topical security problems in your vicinity. The results of the surveydemonstrated conducting such a survey is beneficial and it should be continued in years to come.

You Told UsThe main security problems recognised in the survey:

Insufficient lighting,wandering animals,

leisure facilities for youth in municipalities,control of compliance with traffic rules,alcohol consumption in public places.

We AccomplishedPolice assumed the role of a coordinator and established close cooperation with municipalities, NGOs,businesses and other institutions by notifying those about the security problems indicated by the publicto look for joint solutions. The Public Order Commission operates in the Talsi Municipality Council, andthere are inter-institutional commissions with participation of various institutions in other municipalities.

Insufficient Lighting

The issue on improving the lighting regime in Talsi, considering the financial abilities of the municipality,was discussed at the meeting of the Talsi Municipality Council Public Order Commission. In October2010, the Talsi Municipality Council Construction Board delivered a project for public discussion onimproving street infrastructure in Talsi in the length of 9.6 kilometres to improve security of pedestrians,cyclists and drivers.


75

In ValdemÇrpils, in cooperation with local businesses, lighting has been arranged next to the shoppingarea trade place and parking area (unsafe place indicated by the population in the survey of 2009).

In Roja, after events in the Culture Centre, the lighting in town is switched off only an hour after theend of the event so that the event audience could get back home safely.

Wandering Animals

The rules of keeping pet animals are provided by the Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers. They setforth that the inspectors of the Food and Veterinary Service (FVS) in cooperation with local governmentsare entitled to control compliance with the animal welfare requirements if there is suspicion or complaintsabout violations of such requirements. If the population suspects violations in keeping animals or anydanger for the population as well as wandering animals, the State Police urges notifying the municipalpolice or the FVS to duly prevent the possible misfortune and accidents.

Doctors are now also obliged to report to the State Police if any patient has come in with animal bitewounds.

Youth

Police staff has regularly participated in the Talsi Municipality Advisory Council on Youth Affairs;information about free leisure activities for youth in Talsi, Roja and Dundaga municipalities has beensummarised; alcohol and intoxicating substances free events have been organised. A youth competitionLet’s live safely (Dz¥vosim dro‰i) was completed and it included the creation of educational materials aboutvarious security events by youth for themselves. The result: PowerPoint presentations and the film deliveredby competition participants will be used for lectures in educational institutions. Educational lectures forschool teachers and students’ parents have been organised throughout the year on a regular basis.

Control of Compliance with Traffic Rules

Control of compliance with traffic rules may be performed at the moment not only by Road Police, butalso by district officers. It means that the SP has rearranged its work so that the largest possible numberof police staff could get involved in control of compliance with the rules and prevention of possibleviolations. Besides the usual road police crews, a photo radar is being used to control driving speeds.

Alcohol Consumption in Public Places

Police regularly organise spot checks of places in which public consumption of alcohol often takes place.Unfortunately, the possibilities of the SP are limited as we can only terminate an existing gathering.Cold winter time was of help and public consumption of alcohol decreased. When warmer weatherreturned, this topical security problem also returned.

We Asked YouIn the survey we asked you to indicate the unsafe, in your opinion, sites in the vicinity during both lightand dark time of day.


76

You Told UsYou named the most unsafe places:Talsi: the tunnel under Dundaga StreetRoja: the square next to the Culture HouseValdemÇrpils: parking area near the shop

We AccomplishedThe municipality has improved the pedestrian tunnel in Talsi by installing a wooden floor for safer andmore convenient moving through the tunnel. In cooperation with the Children and Youth Centre andthe School of Arts, inner walls of the tunnel have been painted.

In ValdemÇrpils, in cooperation with the owner of the shop ValdemÇrs, a light sensor has been installedat the shop – no more youth gathering in the parking area, the anti-social behaviour of which causedinconvenience to the nearby population during the night and decreased the sense of security for thepedestrians.

By extending the duration of lighting period at the Culture House in Roja for one hour after the end ofthe event, the opportunity is provided for the population to get back home safely. The Roja MunicipalityCouncil has found it possible to install video surveillance cameras in other less secure places indicatedby the population. As a result, the number of population complaints about the behaviour of botheringpersons has decreased.

No improvements have taken place in Dundaga in 2010. Lighting in the centre of the civil parish isinsufficient. Thanks to those persons who have installed light sensors or lamps at their homes.

Upon analysing the information and statistics available to police, we concluded that one more taskshould be added to the list of works by the police: performing the activities for decreasing the numberof thefts in Talsi, Roja and Dundaga municipalities.

We AccomplishedBy the police staff performing self-education on various aspects of property safety and the role of policein ensuring the property safety aspects, more than 150 population and businesses consultations havebeen conducted during the year, providing information on possible safety improvements.

During warm months of the year, the police staff devoted increased attention to educating the populationon bicycle safety and safe cycling.

The State Police have prepared educational materials for the population on how to improve security oftheir place of residence and safeguard the items placed in the car.

After the event DiÏmÇras gadatirgus in the town of Talsi, several sites were dealth with by installing safebicycle parking facilities.

By analysing the State Police statistics on registered theft, we may conclude that the total numberof theft in the territory serviced by the Talsi department has decreased by 28.6%.


Survey of population performed at the end of 2011 on the attitude of population towards police demonstratesthat:

• 81% of population in Talsi, Roja and Dundaga think that police work has improved duringthe previous year

• 87% of population are satisfied with the work of district officers

• 85% of population feel safe in Talsi, Roja and Dundaga municipalities

• There has been an increase in the number of population who believe that police are wellaware of the problems troubling the population. In 2011, 59% agreed to such an allegation,while only 47% agreed to it in 2009

• The number of population who believe that they are informed about the police work hasincreased. In Kurzeme region 63% agreed to such allegation in 2011, while there were only46% in 2009

The State Police have prepared several information materials on various everyday security aspects in2010/2011: A car is not a safe; how to make the home safer against theft; Cyclist safety; what to do ifyou have complaints about police work; information for youth on various issues related to security aswell as special alarm signals for seniors for increasing the personal sense of security and self-defence.

With financial support from the

Prevention of and Fight against Crime Programmeof the European Union

European Commission – Directorate-General Home Affairs


77

78

Annex 5

THE ISSUES PRECEDING THE SURVEYMethodology Material

Prior to performing the survey of the population in theserviced territory on security problems, some aspects ofconducting the survey should be considered.

1. Support of the Staff

You should be aware of the purpose the survey is conductedfor – whether the police department staff really want tolearn the security problems of local public?

At least the Head of the police department and the Headof Order Police should want to perform the survey. It isdesirable that someone of the staff has backgroundknowledge on why such surveys are necessary. Solutionof problems clarified during the survey will require newwork methods and additional duties from district officers.If performance of the survey is not supported by districtofficers, then it will be difficult later to solve the securityproblems indicated by the local public. In such case, thepractical aspects of introduction of the survey will be onthe shoulders of the managers. Because this is a new methodof police work, it is not possible to receive 100% supportof staff for performance of the first survey.

If staff provides the required support for conducting thesurvey, it may be implemented. We suggest organising atleast one seminar on community policing methods priorto the survey to lay out the aims of the survey and reasonsfor conducting it to everybody together as well as to informabout what will change in police work after performanceof surveys. Police staff of the Talsi department may beinvited to the seminar to share the experience ondistributing and summarising such kinds of questionnaires.

2. Use of Data

How will the collected data be used? For example, for policework planning, improving security of local territory, raisingthe prestige of the police department. It may be used as apublic relations method only after the problems indicatedby the population are successfully solved or their solvinghas been commenced in cooperation with other institutions.

For the most part, the data obtained during the surveyare used for police work planning. It should be clarifiedprior to the survey whether the obtained informationwill be used within the already existing annual policework plan (for example, for the next period) or anotherpolice work planning document will be developed.Considering the community policing philosophy, thedate of the survey cannot only be included in documentswhich, as to the regulations/their essence, are notavailable to the larger public or are classified information.Considering the existing State Police work planning, forthe purpose of making the data of surveys public,additional planning documents should be developedwhich will reflect the results and use of the collecteddata to the larger public.

3. Commencing the Work and Division of Duties

If you have decided to perform the survey, then a staffmember should be chosen in the department who willcoordinate or manage all aspects and the course of thesurvey. The coordinator should perform the followingtasks:1) write the draft survey;2) motivate the staff to get involved in discussing the

issues of the survey;3) agree on the final survey;4) make calculations of the required numbers of

questionnaires to be collected in each department;5) develop the survey distribution channels and collection

of completed questionnaires;6) coordinate public events to complete the questionnaires;7) in cooperation with the responsible persons, notify

local media and the public about the events;8) plan the manner in which the collected data will be

summarised (if/because people will complete thequestionnaires by hand) – when and who will do it;

9) plan the manner of providing feedback to the publicon the results of the survey and their use in the StatePolice work in the particular police department.

4. Preparing the Survey Questions

Your survey should be developed in close cooperation withthe district officers. If ready-made samples (for example,foreign or Latvian) are used, then they should be discussedwith the district officers – the purpose of each questionand how the information obtained will be used should bediscussed. There is no need to include as many questionsas possible in the survey; you should recognise whatanswers each of the questions can provide and what willbe done with the obtained data.

The survey may include questions which will allowclarification of:1) the less secure sites in the territory. These questions

will provide particular information about those siteswhich are perceived as unsafe by the public and thepolice, or together with a cooperation partner, will beable to decide which of the sites to improve to minimisethe number of unsafe sites;

2) social problems and offences of highest concern to thepopulation in the particular populated area (includingviolations related to public security and order);

3) the level of sense of security and the desire to cooperatewith police. The data provide a general idea on themood of the public and its desire to cooperate. If suchsurveys are performed on a regular basis, it will be agood point of reference to measure changes in publicattitude towards police. The police hope that, by reactingto the needs of the public, the sense of security of thepublic and its desire to cooperate will increase.

5. Ways to Complete the Survey Questionnaire

At least one public event should be organised for thecompletion of survey questionnaires during which thepolice staff themselves should hand out questionnairesto the local population and should explain why it isnecessary and how the data will be used. Communitypolicing methods do not support distribution ofquestionnaires by mail, via newspapers or by leavingthose in waiting areas of institutions, if that is the onlyway of distribution. Personal contact with the localpopulation should be made during distribution of

questionnaires (for example, in supermarkets, schools,during public events, in post offices, municipalities andsocial services). Distribution methods vary and whileplanning those you should be as creative as possible,because we all know that completing surveys is not a dailypriority of the population (and the State Police). Usingpersonal contacts may significantly increase and facilitatecollection of completed survey questionnaires.

It is advisable to define accurate dates from and untilwhen the questionnaires will be distributed andsummarised. It is important to notify the population ofthis date also by using the support of mass media andcooperation partners.

6. Feedback and Further Activities

When this kind of surveys is performed, public trust maybe obtained only if it will be evident that the informationobtained is used in the police work. You should rememberto render thanks to cooperation partners for their supportin distributing the questionnaires as well as to thepopulation who have devoted their time to completing thequestionnaires (for example, letters of gratitude may besent to partners or institutions; gratitude to the populationmay be expressed in local press, etc.).

The summarised results of questionnaires and theconclusions made by the police should be available torepresentatives of the public as well as to municipalityinstitutions to the maximum extent. This may be organisedin different ways. One such way is organising the events,presentations of the results obtained, by invitingrepresentatives of main cooperation partners and the mostactive residents to think about solutions for problemstogether. The ideal option would be drafting, after discussingthe results, a plan of local police, made in a manner andlanguage understandable to the population and distributedto cooperation partners, too. Such plan is publically availableinformation that may be distributed not only in printedform, but also by using modern technologies. The planmay be published on the homepage of each particularmunicipality, which is usually interested in suchcooperation because every municipality is responsible forpublic order and security in its territory.

79

80

MY STRENGTHSKnowledge, experience, intuition, skills, education,art to combine work and leisure, friendly work team,colleagues prepared to cooperate, prestige of theprofession, interests of the employee to perform thework responsibly, protection by law, family welfare,posture, discipline and unity, support of the public,life experience, analytical thinking, communicationskills, policeman is a lifestyle, not work, positivism,authority, management vision, aim and attitude

MY OPPORTUNITIESMaterial improvement, decrease of workload, senseof security, social provisions, public support, personaldevelopment of police staff, possibilities to increaseprofessionalism, development of dialogue with thepublic.Resources – budget increase, increase of number ofstaff, improvement of regulative basis, technicalequipment, public support, preparedness of thepublic for cooperation

MY WEAKNESSESLow level of knowledge and lack of information, lowlevel of responsibility, easily irritable, emotionallyunbalanced, lack of confidence, low self-esteem,stereotypes and routine, lack of professionalexperience, low level of physical fitness, pessimism,depression, low technical provisions, lack of staffand instability, working without enthusiasm (needfor acknowledgement), lack of family and statesupport, negative character features – laziness,placidity, lack of accuracy and sharpness,presentation, negative experience and pessimism

THREATSCommon – collective relations, volume of work,technical provisions, uncertainty about the future,aggressiveness, decrease of social guarantees,organisation inertia, low legal consciousness andmistrust of the public, lack of balance betweenresponsibilities and rights.Individual – attitude of the resident (filer), differencesin level of training (with or without education in thespeciality), arrogance, betrayal, superficial attitude,fatigue

Annex 6

MY STRENGTH, MY WEAKNESS

The so-called SWOT analysis (S – strengths, W –weaknesses, O – opportunities, T – threats) is reflectedin the picture. The use of this technique allows evaluatingthe personality or the profession in its entirety by definingwhat the strong and weak sides of the individual (orprofession) are, as well as recognising the eventualthreats and opportunities.

Most often the characteristic features of strong and weaksides are related to internal factors, while the opportunitiesand threats – to external ones. Upon performing SWOTanalysis everyone can pay attention to what are, forexample, threats for the profession or the individual

which affect a decline in self-esteem and can use theefforts to possibly minimise or eliminate those.

The example reveals the analysis made by participantsof one of the seminars organised during the project onpossible strong and weak sides of the police staff (relatedto professional self-assessment). While studying thepicture, do evaluate whether the SWOT analysis performedby participants of the seminar matches your personalSWOT analysis; whether you can eliminate the threatsand weak sides yourself or does it require support fromthe whole system; which are the things interfering withthe work and which are the ones assisting in it?

Source: Material prepared in working groups of the seminar Communication Skills and Professional Self-assessment (organised for Riga Kurzemepolice department staff) within the project Community Policing in Latvia. Riga, 31 March 2011.

Annex 7

RECOMMENDATIONS DEVELOPED BY PRO-POLICEFOR THE POLICE OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC21 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UNIFORMED POLICE IN THE 21ST CENTURY

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Open Society Fund Prague (Otevfiená spoleãnost, o.p.s.) isa non-governmental organisation which operates in variousfields important for the public. The organisation believesthat police are an integral part of democratic stategovernance which performs transparent and responsibleactivities, therefore, in 2003, it commenced the projectcalled Introduction of Community Policing Definition intothe Czech Police System, within which a wholesome modelof how police units should operate was sought, i.e. a modelthat would meet the modern requirements, for example,would facilitate public trust in police and strengthen thesense of population that police operate efficiently; a modelimplementation of which would take into account thecurrent trends of police science and the experience ofother countries. A police work development centreProPolice was developed within the project which dealtexactly with the issues of police reform and training ofpolicemen by promoting and supporting introduction ofcommunity policing principles and methods in the policesystem of the Czech Republic.

For the sake of effecting community policing, the policeshould have a long-term policy for solving problematicissues in particular territories. It is advisable to do itwhere the issues arise and together with the populationwhich is directly affected. Recommendations developedby ProPolice, 21 Recommendations for Uniformed Policein 21st Century, are useful materials for every policemanand they show the direction in which police should developto successfully perform their role in the future.

DEVELOPMENT IN THE PAST YEARS

All over the world, police forces have been subject toprofound change. There are new trends in how crime andits sources are perceived, in its instruments as well as inthe ways of combating crime. In the past, police – likeother institutions – had to do with a lot of administration

that monitored activities which were as small as possible,thus easily calculable and assessable. What this approachresulted in was a well-working organisation of crimefighters which, however, had very little contact withpeople’s everyday troubles.

It is impossible to say the crime fighters have lost – farfrom it; they do win in most battles anyway – althoughthey can hardly win the whole war. Crime has alwaysbeen an inevitable part of society, and this is how it hasto be approached. Police theoreticians have come to realisethis, and have come up with approaches based onmonitoring the environment that brings crime ratherthan on monitoring crime itself. Instead of catching asmany offenders as possible, the police should, first andforemost, create such conditions that will make it virtuallyimpossible to violate laws.

The police have adopted a new role in relation to thepublic – the general public used to be approached as asource of information whenever a crime was committed,whereas nowadays it is considered a central point ofpolice work. What is crucial is the feeling of security onthe part of people and their participation in designing aswell as implementing safe conditions. The police –particularly the public order units which are discussedhere61 – are changing from a unit able to respond quicklyand effectively into a unit able to foresee troubles and toprevent them.

The Czech Police have responded to the new trends aswell. It no doubt had a rather more difficult startingposition than the police forces in the neighbouringcountries, in particular those in the west of the CzechRepublic. A member of the police put it very simply –„for forty years police offices were built as securefortresses”, which had a huge effect on how the policeperceived the general public and vice versa. Nevertheless,Czech police have by now gone a long way towards

measuring up to police forces of other countries.

Since 2000, the police have implemented the EuropeanFoundation for Quality Management (EFQM) system whichintends to „create products of better quality, provideclients with services of better quality while makingbusiness partners, general public, and the police staffmore satisfied”.62 In 2001 the Police started opinion pollsin order to monitor how the public perceives the police,and how satisfied people are with services provided. InSeptember 2005 another project was launched both bythe Czech Police and the Ministry of the Interior. Thegoal is to implement principles called community policing into the work of the local units of the Czech Police.63

Every effort in this respect deserves praise and is morethan welcome since every positive example reflects greatcredit on the police, and makes it more likely that thehard work done by the police will be useful. Yet, therehas unfortunately been more resentment rather thansupport on the part of the police, although the reformshave been repeatedly declared as a crucial task for yearsnow. We are the wrong entity to analyse why this is so;the police is a huge body and it is perfectly understandablethat adopting changes of any kind necessarily bringsresults at a later point. Instead, let us build upon thepositive response and efforts from within the police, andsupport their force while pointing out some of the notoriousissues that the police is faced with and that still need tobe solved. In order to fulfil its goals, the police needscomplex change that will solve such issues as systematicbarriers on its way to success instead of dealing withthem separately. It is only upon the changes to its workthat we can build a police force able to fulfil the role ithas adopted. And this is why we have come up with theserecommendations.

COMMUNITY POLICING

In order to be an active part of a democratic society, thepolice have to respond to a number of needs, has to beable to enforce law, be impartial, universal, and just...Legally, it is obliged to do so by the Constitution and the

Police Act. By pursuing this philosophy, the police oftenforgets to respond to minor, though no less important,needs. First and foremost, every modern society mustmake sure that the public is given due support not onlywhen suffering from crime but also when feelingendangered by crime. In reality, the uninformed policework more like mechanical crime monitors rather thanlike an active force protecting the public from theconsequences of crime. The only solution to this is acloser link between the local units of the uniformed policeon the one hand and the communities they are responsiblefor on the other. This is something we have recently beencalling community policing. Its characteristics are outlinedelsewhere; let us only give you the four principles it isbased on.

First, there is the principle of cooperation. In other words,the police builds a close cooperation with the community64

– or the public – when carrying out its work. Cooperationis diverse – from helping each other in particular casesto systematic dealing with the issues that the communityis faced with and that induce the feeling of beingendangered.

The second principle is the responsibility towards themembers of the community. This includes a number ofaspects – first, concrete police staff are responsible forconcrete territory; second, the responsibility for the powergiven to the police by the nation (public); thirdly, theauthority of police resulting from the power. If the goalsof the institution cannot be clearly defined as those ofthe public, then the priorities of the institution must bechanged.

By assuming the responsibility for the security in thecommunity, the police have to follow a third principle,which is the strategy of fulfilling such responsibility.Instead of focusing solely on investigating crime, thepolice have to lay a new emphasis on responsibly workingon criminal factors and indicators. Thus prevention hasto play a more important role in police work than it hasdone so far – it has to become an everyday part of theactivities of each and every member of the police staff.

Fourthly, and no less importantly, there is the initiative

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of the police. The staff have to seek new ways of restrictingand preventing crime and always remember the fact thatvery often things that may look minor from the generalperspective can have decisive effect on crime. The policehave to perceive crime as a genuinely social phenomenonand have to ensure that all parts of society are involvedin an active fight against crime. The police have to bearin mind that crime is not anything that only the policemay worry about, but is a threat to all its potential victims.

The move towards these principles has to run in threelevels – legislation, organisation and management, andworking conditions in local units. They may not necessarilyrun at the same time, but the clear movement towardsfulfilling these principles and the support by the policetop management are absolutely crucial for the future ofthe uniformed police.

WORKING CONDITIONS IN LOCAL UNITS

Currently, police officers at the local level spend too muchtime by doing administrative work and traffic monitoring.There is hardly any time left for other types of contactwith the public living in the particular area – who should

be their most important target – such as preventativework and monitoring law and order in places wherepeople tend to feel endangered. The uniformed policeinvestigate crimes, (which is what the Crime andInvestigation Department is primarily in charge of) ormonitor the safety and fluency of traffic (which is whatthe Traffic Police Department is primarily in charge of).This does not imply that the uniformed police shouldavoid these activities – it only needs to be pointed outthat local police units often fail to do what they wereprimarily established for. Therefore, the link to the placethe unit is responsible for is often an abstract one. Inorder to be a genuinely modern force, the police have toput every effort into making the relationships with thecommunities as active as possible. But how to achievethis?

All police staff employed for ten and more years havebeen calling for a careful distribution of work based onthe areas they are responsible for. The reason is that theystill recall how the good knowledge of people and placeson the part of the police helped make the public moreconfident in the police and more willing to help duringinvestigation as well as to conform to law and order.

61 There is no doubt that the police have to go on fighting various crimes which are becoming more and more sophisticated. The general publicdoes not feel directly that such crimes occur; similarly, people should not feel directly the presence of files dealing with such crimes. On the other hand, whenever a crime has direct impact on people, the visible part of the police – the uniformed, or public order police – haveto step in.

62 According to www.mvcr.cz/policie/phare/historie_policie.html.63 Community policing is more like philosophy rather than a working method, and it has different forms in different police forces. The Czech

version has been outlined by the Open Society in its project called Implementing the Concept of Community Policing into the Czech PoliceSystem.

64 Community means a community of citizens who share the same life conditions and worries related to the conditions – broadly speaking, community is a group of citizens belonging to an area controlled by one Czech police department (or local unit).

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1. RECOMMENDATIONCarefully Distribute Work According to Districts

Currently, the distribution of work based on districts isonly formal. The police do investigate cases falling intotheir districts and do keep the records about what happensin the districts, but have no regular contact with thepublic, such that would be natural and preventative. Thusthe police are no longer the people’s police – they onlycollect information in order to fulfil their own goals. Themore the area is becoming e anonymous, the more thepolice lose control, investigation is more difficult andbrings worse results. The police feel no support from thepublic, which makes the mutual confidence even lower.The solution is to design a new way of work distributionso that the police staff spend as much time as possiblein the area, even when not doing any investigation.

2. RECOMMENDATIONSend Police Officers on One-man Patrols

Particularly in smaller towns and areas which are easilycontrollable, it is undoubtedly advantageous to sendindividual police officers to do their patrols. When spendingmore time in their districts, when not going there in orderto carry out administrative duties, the police have muchmore room for comfortable communication with the people,for building contacts, building confidence and broadeningthe knowledge of people and places. Only when not talkingto his/her colleague during the patrols, when paying moreattention to the places, the police officers become moreopen to the general public. It then becomes easy andconvenient for the people to address their officers. Thesame is with the police – the officer will simply sooner orlater be bored when walking on his/her own and willeasily start talking to people.

3. RECOMMENDATIONMake Police Officers See the Public as Clients

Supporting non-crime related contacts between thepolice and the public is an integral part of the current

trends in police work. Officers have to take people fortheir partners or clients instead of seeing them assources of potential trouble, which is what still happensthese days. We may say this new trend has caught onalthough the police need to be made aware of suchchanges through very specific changes to their trainingprogrammes as well as through new requirements andevaluation methods.

4. RECOMMENDATIONRestrict the concentraition on Conflicts in thePrimary Training Programme

The police staff see their work as very risky, feelingconstant danger – be it the risk of losing their jobs orthreats to their health or lives. But it is important toknow that they do have the means to avoid conflictsthat may occur – it is only necessary to figure out howto use them.

The primary police training places huge emphasis onteaching the police staff to investigate crimes and do allthe related administrative tasks, to deal with aggressiveoffenders, and to use shotguns on a regular basis. Thereare, in fact, very few situations that would really callfor such skills. The risks that are so typical of theapproach the police staff adopt in their everyday work,tend to be exaggerated (ordinary police officers cometo use some of „crisis” skills once in many months oreven years). We do appreciate that the primary trainingprogramme has to teach these skills, but we think itunacceptable to keep placing the biggest emphasis onthem.

5. RECOMMENDATIONDramatically Strengthen the Focus on CommunicationSkills in Non-conflict Situations in the PrimaryTraining Programme

It is very advisable that the police staff learn how tocommunicate in non-conflict situations and to buildnon-authoritative and informal contact with the public.

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This part of the police work must, however, be basedon expertise and cannot be driven by intuition and bythe fact that the police „behave well”. The police mustbe able to communicate in situations which are notbased on any conflict, and must behave in a way thatdoes not lead to or aggravate conflicts. This is nodifficult philosophy as it might seem. Keeping in touchwith the general public is absolutely crucial for thepolice. It helps broaden the knowledge of people andplaces and strengthen the links with the communitythat the police unit is responsible for. The benefit istwofold: the public will be willing to give moreinformation in investigation processes, and it will adopta more positive attitude towards the police. Whatmatters more for the public’s perception of the policeis the day-to-day personal experience rather than casesbeing shown in the media.

6. RECOMMENDATIONDelegate Part of the Responsibility for MediaCommunication to Members of the Local Units

Another innovation we suggest in the contact with thepublic is that information can be given by more peopleinstead of police spokespersons only. The traditionalway is justifiable in serious, long cases or in strategicissues related to the management of police sectionsbut may be abandoned when information is neededwithout delay (at the scene of a crime or a car accidentetc.). Not only does the spokesperson have lessinformation than the police doing the investigation butit is also unadvisable to let him/her comment on whatthe „ordinary” staff do since his/her role is to defendstrategic decisions of his section that may sometimesbe controversial for the public. A member of police staffwho likes to answer an ordinary question with „Nocomment” will often have a stronger impact on thepublic confidence than serious misdemeanourcommitted by his/her colleagues in a different place ofthe country. As said above, it is the everyday contactwith the police that has the strongest effect on how thepublic perceives the police.

7. RECOMMENDATIONInclude Media Training into the Primary TrainingProgramme

We have talked about the need to include into the basicskills that every member of the police should have theability to communicate in non conflict situations. Thecommunication with the media is one of the specificpoints that should be given due support in the primarytraining programme.

8. RECOMMENDATIONDelegate Preventive Tasks to Individual Police Staffand Define Them as a Functional Part of TheirEveryday Activities

In order to be an effective tool of crime prevention insociety, the police cannot be satisfied with preventionexperts since these will only be able to give lectures inthe schools in the area and hold a „police day” once ayear. Crime prevention is a much more complicatedissue and its best tool is a non-anonymous environment.This can only be built and maintained when theindividual staff of local police units have enough roomfor regular non-crime related contact and communicationwith the people living in the area. The police have to beable to play its preventative role in each and everycontact with the people whatever the reason for thecontact.

9. RECOMMENDATIONGive the Police Staff Enough Room to Plan Long-term Solutions to Issues Typical of Their Location

Currently, the police put most efforts into such activitiesof a short-lasting value that can only be evaluatedaccording to the their amount (e.g. revealing five trafficoffences is better than revealing one). They fail to solvethe issues typical of the locality, and focus on generalpriorities the fulfilment of which is difficult to evaluate.This needs to be changed – the police must be able toset specific strategic goals for their area and work

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towards these goals through such means they thinkadequate (and which are, naturally, compatible withlaw). There must be enough time for such activities intheir working schedule.

10. RECOMMENDATIONEngage Partners in Solving the Issues Typical of theCommunity

Naturally, the police staff are unable to pursue thesetasks by themselves. On the contrary, it is much betterto seek solutions where the issue appeared with thosewho suffer from it. Therefore, the police should adoptan active role in building and strengthening thepartnership among police units, groups of people, orbetween members of the public and the police in thefight for safety. Though the beginnings may be far fromeasy and it may be necessary to start again and againin the face of a particular issue, the police must admitthat it needs external support for efficient fight againstcrime. Thus each of the potential partners may hold thekey to staving off one of the factors creating a particulartrouble that keeps occurring again and again. Also,closer relationships facilitate the day-to-daycommunication between the police and state authorities,saving time for both parties.

11. RECOMMENDATIONGive the Police the Right Means to Support theirRole in the Community

In order to fulfil this role responsibly and to buildefficient and long-lasting relationships in the community,the police must have the right means. The local unitsare seen as a „basis” for other specialist police activitiesbut the focus on the equipment is often inadequate.Apart from the web pages of each local unit and businesscards that all the staff should have and give out to peopleliving in the area, the police must have mobile telephonesor a direct line with an answering machine, Internetaccess and an e-mail address. Currently, mass

communication means other than e-mail areunsustainable in the long run.

12. RECOMMENDATIONInclude Team Management into the Primary TrainingProgramme

The police must be trained to face the issues resultingfrom the type of work discussed above. One of them ishow to operate the modern means of communicationthat the police will be given, but what is more importantare the basic team skills. The police must be trained toorganise work, to set goals and be able to make themand their partners achieve the goals without delay, toknow how to evaluate their activities. These skills canbe taught in the primary training programme.

STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATION

The current management and organisation structure ofthe Czech Police is not really efficient, far from open tochanges, and what is worse, the police does not seemto have any internal future policies. Instead, the structurelooks like a number of unrelated islands that only dealwith what they think needs solving without delay. Wecould even say that the organisation structure of thepolice – which was established as a most efficient toolto attain safety objectives – has become an objectiveitself and works only in order to survive.

13. RECOMMENDATIONMotivate the Police to Identify the Causes of Troubleand to Work Towards Averting Them

From the viewpoint of the police, crime is currentlysomething that can be successfully fought by penalisingthose who commit it. What is much more efficient(though more difficult at the start) is to see it as an issuewhich can be solved by identifying and eliminating itscauses. The police have ample valuable information inthis respect. But as most crime-related issues are very

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complex there is no doubt that the police is unable tosolve such issues on their own. Initiative is there,however, and it should remain on the part of the police,as well. It is only the activity of the police that canlaunch and support an efficient process of eliminatingthe germs of crime rather than symptoms.

14. RECOMMENDATIONInclude Non-crime Related Contact Between thePolice and the Public into Performance Evaluation

In order to play an active role in safety and security,the police must be sure that such efforts will be givendue reward, not only financial, but also professional.Therefore, it is no longer possible to put up with anenvironment where the police is supposed to meet allthe plans and deadlines of various administrative tasks– these should be one of the means, rather than thesole objective of police work. Only when the public hassome experience with the police other than fromsituations related to crime or offences (be it in the roleof victims or perpetrators), the police will be seen inthe positive light. Until the public feel that the policeare interested in their troubles and security ratherthan in ticking off their own administrative duties,there will be no confidence between the police and thepublic; only such confidence could result in closercooperation in the long-term process of solving securityissues.

15. RECOMMENDATIONIntroduce Performance Evaluation Based on HowLong-term Goals are Achieved Rather than onAdministrative Efficiency; Promote Planning

If the police are convinced that the measures theywant to adopt are right, they must have enough roomfor evaluation. We have said already that the policemust be able to make long-term plans of their activitiesand to set the goals which they want to achieve in thelong-term horizon. Also, there have to be evaluation

instruments able to take into consideration and respectthe new solution methods.

16. RECOMMENDATIONOnce and for All Cancel the Old Evaluation SystemEvaluating the Quantity of Tasks Fulfilled in CrimeInvestigation

Short-term tasks with no clear link to realistic goals– in each and every institution, including the police –necessarily make those responsible for carrying themout unable to see over their horizons. They willgradually stop thinking independently and will avoidmaking decisions, and instead adopt only anadministrative approach to their goals; thus, theirperformance will lose its initial sense. Applying toomuch administration in the police work may lead towidespread apathy. The only way of tackling it is touse different evaluation criteria – ones based on qualityrather than on quantity, supporting initiative insteadof the „no doing no spoiling” philosophy. Currently,with the new evaluation instructions existing officiallyfor almost four years, though normally the old one isstill being given preference, it becomes clear thatformal changes to evaluation methods will not do: ithas to be given active and long-term support by thepolice top management.

17. RECOMMENDATIONHarmonise the Tasks of the police and the relevantmethods through auditing the internal acts ofmanagement

Police work is regulated by a number of internal rules– internal acts of management. Although their firstobjective is to give the police such instructions thefulfilment of which will protect them from mistakesand penalisations, the result is mostly counter-productive. The police staff sometimes like to act inopposition to their personal feeling in order to avoiddisagreements with very detailed requirements laid

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down in regulations, or to avoid the excessive red tapethat would result from the decision they wouldotherwise prefer. In order to adopt an active approachto issues related to crime, the police must have therelevant support in the internal organisation regulations.This can be done by linking and abolishing duplicitiesor disagreements in various regulations and byestablishing the framework of „preferable performance”which the newly adopted regulations will cover. Whatcould serve as the basis for such a framework could bethe Code of Ethics of the Czech Police which is currentlyoverlooked.

18. RECOMMENDATIONDefine Police Work Methods Strategically RatherThan Technically

Instead of being a hint to guide the police staff when indoubt, the internal acts of management tend to be adetailed instruction for tackling everyday situations.The technical details of how to carry out a task are usefulfor analysing and improving the methods used. In orderto work in the day-to-day police work, they have to bedefined in strategic points not just technically. The morethe staff can learn about tasks from careful strategictraining, the less they will need a thorough knowledgeof the technical details.

19. RECOMMENDATIONEstablish an Internal Structure in the Police ThatWould Promote Innovation and Reject InefficientWorking Methods

The recent years have seen a boom in discussion boardson the intranet of the individual local units, and opendiscussions are going on about the performance andorganisation of police work. The low transparency ofthe internal acts of management - which has been oneof the most notorious issues of the recent decade –shows, however, that the conclusions made at suchdiscussions are hardly implemented if it should lead to

a profound change to the style of work. The police clearlylacks structures that could efficiently collect and evaluatethe details about insufficiencies, stereotypes andduplicities in the police work, and that could implementthese details into the everyday work by modifying theinternal acts of management and all the relevant workingmethods.

LEGISLATION

Although amended several times, the Czech Police Acthas been there for fifteen years. This is not to say it isa wrong law, nor do we think laws should be modifiedon a regular basis. Yet, it has become clear that thecurrent form of the Act makes it impossible for thepolice to work as it is supposed to at the start of the21st century. We are not talking about the technologicalchanges or the new balance of security forces in bothEurope and the world in general (though these are nominor issues either) which have occurred in the pastfifteen years. In particular, it is the changing democraticsocieties with a new emphasis placed on informationand performance transparency and thus a crisis oflegitimacy of the police in today’s world that call for lawamendments.

20. RECOMMENDATIONRedefine the Role of the Police in Society in thePolice Act with Formulations That Include PracticalPoints Coming from Everyday Work

The police of every democratic society must be as openas possible, taking care of people’s comfort and securityrather than forever catching all the different criminals.The police must define its role in relation to those whomthey serve in points which come from everyday work.The Code of Ethics of the Czech Police may help definethe role: points such as communication, confidence,prevention, or responsibility must be included in thePolice Act, instead of being laid down in supplementaryregulations which are hard to adopt.

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21. RECOMMENDATIONDefine Partnership Cooperation in Tackling SecurityIssues Locally as One of the Primary WorkingMethods of Czech Police Local Units

By law the police must be given part of the responsibilityfor establishing the conditions that produce crime. Thepassive protection of law and order and offence andcrime investigation and solving are still stipulated in

insensible regulations. By contrast, active attempts atidentifying security issues and their potential sources,search for solutions and partners are still subject tocontempt (apart from some exceptions, which arefortunately on the increase). Therefore, it is necessaryto prevent the excess of formal contacts between thepolice and other institutions, and focus on highlightingin the primary police regulations the benefits of tacklingissues locally.

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Notes

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Notes

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Notes

Talsi population survey performed at the beginning of the project implementationrevealed that the population deems the pedestrian tunnel under Dundaga Street asthe most unsafe place in town. According to the information and statistical dataavailable to police this place was not considered unsafe or dangerous. The results ofthe survey made the police and the municipality listen to the opinion of the populationand think about the improvement of this place: renewing the floor cover and the wallsas well as installing the lighting. In collaboration with the municipality, police, TalsiMunicipality Children and Youth Centre and Talsi School of Arts the work of the tunnelimprovement was completed by joint effort. The tunnel was painted by youths basedon sketches approved by the City Council, and it is still making the population happy.

This positive example proves that the police do not always have to solve securityproblems alone; it may be done in joint effort by successfully involving cooperationpartners.

The project team wishes our colleagues in other regions to listen to the opinion of thepopulation and look for similar solutions in dealing with the unsafe areas!

community policing in latvia 2009–2012 · the project promotion of crime prevention through...

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