A mixed team of 8 Kosovo Police Officers and 13 EULEX International Police Officers have finalized an action program (or action fiche) on police patrol management. As part of this action program 645 first line police managers were given an extensive 40 hour training on patrol management. The results of this action program were presented by EULEX and KP to the public on the 15th of July.

EULEX action fiche: enhanced patrol management

Patrolling is one of the core tasks of any police organization in the world. Patrol officers are the ‘boots on the ground’ of the police, they are the visible presence of police for people in their streets and neighborhoods and mostly the first officials to arrive at a crime scene. Patrol officers moreover can detect early signs of problems, unrest or criminal activities.

As part of EULEX Action Fiche program to monitor, mentor and advise Kosovo Police, patrol management was identified as one of the priority areas that needed EULEX support. In the autumn of 2010 a joint KP/EULEX team was formed to oversee the implementation of an extensive Kosovo wide program to upgrade police patrolling.

The importance of first line police managers

Klaus Richard, EULEX Chief Police Advisor in Sthime/Shtimlje, was co-heading the team that implemented this action fiche. Together with his KP colleague Captain Fazli Rugova he supervised the program to improve police patrol management. He explains: “We identified that most improvements could be achieved at the level of the first line managers. These are police officials that manage 5 to 10 police patrol officers in local police stations all over Kosovo. Problems in police patrolling often arise at this level: lack of planning and no rosters to conduct patrols, poor information management of intelligence and incidents, crime scenes that are improperly sealed off, etc. We saw that many of these problems, had to do with management. Our action program was designed to supply the first line managers with the tools and skills to more effectively manage their team of patrol officers.”

100% participation of KP in the north

The implementation team of Klaus and Fazli developed a detailed Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) to provide line managers with clear instructions and guidelines on their tasks as managers. A management training given by trainers from within the KP organization, was developed for a total of 645 police officials. One of the biggest successes of this project was the participation of police officials in northern Kosovo. Of the police officers invited for the training in the Mitrovica regions the participation level even reached 100%.

Noticeably more police checks and controls

Klaus Richard is satisfied with the results achieved: “We closely monitored, mentored and advised Kosovo Police in the implementation of this project. From the facts we gathered through surveys, our own monitoring activities, and the work of EULEX station advisors in local police stations, we noticed the progress made in police patrolling. Police patrols are carried out more structured and focused, administration of incidents has greatly improved and intelligence is shared with police investigation teams. Most noticeable for people in Kosovo are the increased checks and speed controls that are visible in the streets.”