OSCE Mission to Skopje supports development of public relations in police

The OSCE Mission to Skopje organised on 16 November 2012 a regional conference in Mavrovo in the western part of the country, to advance the capacities of the Interior Ministry staff in the use of new technologies in public relations.

During the event, 50 participants, including police representatives from neighbouring countries as well as media experts, discussed best practices in police-public relations and the use of new technologies and social media for presenting the police work to the public and in the media. A special focus was on the importance of maintaining the presumption of innocence principle in the interaction between the police and the public.

The two-day seminar titled “Public Relations in Modern Policing” is jointly organized by the OSCE Mission to Skopje, the Interior Ministry, and the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program of the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Transparency is a key element of improving trust between media and the police,” said the Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Ambassador Ralf Breth, opening the conference.  “Law enforcement structures benefit from improving their relations with journalists and better utilising the media to provide information and communicate with the public. In their turn, media representatives must also improve their understanding of the potential sensitivity of releasing certain information to the public.”

The conference’s goal is to improve co-operation between the Interior Ministry’s Sector for Public Relations and PR offices in neighbouring countries, with the ultimate goal to contribute to improved, transparent, modern and professional work in public information field.

The event is part of the Mission’s activities aimed at strengthening the public relations capacity of the Ministry, thereby assisting the development of a police service in line with international democratic standards.