Europe & CIS

Management training for Polish police

Poland, 12 August 2008 – In June 2008 the UNDP project ‘Strengthening of the administrative capacity of police in Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and Kaliningrad’ was finalized. The project trained 1500 Polish police employees in implementing quality management standards according to the ISO 9000 standard. Sixty of this group also received training in the more elaborate and flexible Dutch system for quality management. This project was implemented in close cooperation with the Polish Chief Command of Police, and had financial support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MATRA) and practical advice from the Dutch Police. Its implementation contributed greatly to the development of the Polish police force and its contacts with the police in other countries, especially those just across the border.

Through the project, 11 police units including the Voivodship commands of Rzeszów, Olsztyn and Lublin were assisted in preparing quality management systems according to the ISO 9000 standard. In these units better procedures where established which lead to better service to the communities and improved policing. Many bureaucratic obstacles and procedural loopholes were cleared, without reducing the effectiveness and accuracy. In eight units, including the Voivodship Commands of Gdansk and Wrocław and the Metropolitan Police Command, so-called improvement plans were prepared based on the Dutch quality management system. These units went even further and put their procedures to the strategic test to identify the level to which they contributed to the key results of policing. In most cases costumer satisfaction research was a cornerstone of the quality management efforts.

During the project the Polish police strengthened its contacts with cross border police units from Lithuania and Ukraine. With the training model tested by the Polish police, the Lithuanian and Ukraine police forces were trained. Basic training was provided to almost 300 Lithuanian and Ukrainian police employees. Next to that, seven police units were assisted in preparing ISO 9000 quality management systems. These units substantially improved the accuracy of their procedures and the effectiveness of their operations. Moreover through the project the Polish police was able to organize three international conferences and exchange knowledge with police people from England, Belgium and the Netherlands as well as Lithuanian and Ukrainian colleagues.

The results obtained through this project are very significant to the Polish police. Somewhat more then 1% of the Polish police personnel was trained. By the end of the project this accounted for about 60% of all police personnel who have had training on quality management (a further 1000 have been trained in other projects). Moreover, from about 50 units that have a quality management system, 20 were assisted by the project. It is also very important that quality management, and the auditing system that comes with it, will gradually replace the internal control system in the police force at large, leading to cultural change and meaning the improvements are sustained into the future. The chief command expects that the results of the project will further flourish in the force when young police officers trained in quality management come into higher positions.

The project resulted furthermore in cross-border cooperation between the Lublin Voivodship Command and the units of the Ukrainian Police in the Lviv region. The City Command of Biala-Podlaska prepared a project in cooperation with units from Belarussia and Ukraine. Commands from Suwalki and Olsztyn furthered their cooperation with their colleagues from Lithuania.

For more information, please contact Jan Szczyciński, jan.szczycinski@undp.org.pl
 

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