We have concluded the series of meetings “Preventing hate crime: Principles of building partnerships with the local community.” The trainings were prepared by the Jewish Association Czulent in cooperation with the Voivodeship Police Headquarters in Kraków, and their aim was to build cooperation enabling the development of so-called “community policing,” a policy of collaboration between the Police, the local community, and other stakeholders, allowing for the creation of an effective prevention system.

The trainings were attended by police officers who, in the course of their service, have contact with representatives of minority groups, foreigners, as well as members of minority communities, including Jewish, Roma, and Ukrainian groups. Participants also included employees of the Kraków City Office, such as staff from the Municipal Social Welfare Centre (MOPS) and the Multicultural Center.

The meetings took the form of networking workshops aimed at increasing knowledge about hate crimes. Participants learned about indicators of the risk of hate crimes, as well as the mechanisms of stereotyping, stigmatization, discrimination, and social exclusion affecting minority groups.
Meetings with representatives of minority communities and visits to places of worship helped expand participants’ understanding of minorities (both legally recognized national and ethnic minorities as well as foreigners), cultural differences, rules for entering and navigating places of worship, security measures implemented by minority organizations, and the specific challenges of interventions within particular communities and religious sites.
Police officers also learned about mechanisms and methods of cooperation, dialogue, and mediation that can be applied in their work with minority communities in the local areas they serve.

These activities were carried out as part of the project “Strategies for cooperation and inclusion of people at risk of discrimination and exclusion,” funded by the Active Citizens – National Fund programme, financed through the EEA Grants. The project is implemented by the Czulent Jewish Association in cooperation with the Municipality of Krakow, the Lesserpoland Voivodeship Police Headquarters and the American Jewish Committee Central Europe.