Police officers are at the frontline of the criminal justice system and the first point of contact for many victims of hate crime. To help them in developing essential skills to identify and investigate hate crimes against LGBTI persons, a Council of Europe manual “Policing Hate Crime against LGBTI persons: Training for a Professional Police Response” is adapted in Albanian, under the joint European Union and Council of Europe Action on “Promotion of Diversity and Equality in Albania” part of the Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022. The manual is designed as a practical tool for police trainers, investigators, managers, hate crime officers and frontline police officers to efficiently respond to hate crime.

The first set of 400 manuals were distributed at the Police Academy and Faculty of Security, General Police Directory and various police stations in Tirana. In cooperation with the Albanian State Police, Aleanca LGBT and Pro LGBT, the Police Academy hosted an event to introduce the manual with students and police officers. Prof.Dr. Ilirjan Mandro, Dean of the Faculty of Security and Investigation, underlined that “the manual itself and the accompanying brochures are a good didactic basis for the teaching staff, to use it as literature for candidate police officers as well as the ongoing training of career staff. The brochure gives quick and effective answers to any hesitation or ambiguity police officers might have”. Two other events were organized with the same purpose, at the General Police Directory and Police Station number 1 in Tirana.  A total of 1000 copies of the manual will be distributed in police stations all around Albania.

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The action on “Promotion of Diversity and Equality in Albania” will keep supporting and consolidating the cooperation between the state police and LGBTI CSOs, based on positive results and experiences established to date. This action is part of the EU and Council of Europe joint programme Horizontal Facility II, a cooperation initiative that enables the Beneficiaries to meet their reform agendas in the fields of human rights, rule of law and democracy and to comply with the European standards, including where relevant within the framework of the EU enlargement process.