Police officers from Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac and Niš participated in a series of two-day instructional seminars for police officers who are the point of contact with victims and witnesses of crimes in the past two months.

The focus of instructional seminars was the familiarization of police officers with the victims’ rights, as well as MoI's mandatory instructions for dealing with victims. These instructions refer to the informing of the victims, as well as the assessment of vulnerability risks and needs for measures of protection and support of victims of crime. Special attention was paid to these procedures in cases where minors are the victims in question.

Since police officers are most commonly the first "point of contact" for victims, a special part of the seminar was a training course on communication skills in dealing with victims and witnesses of criminal acts.

Instructional seminars for police officers are part of the project Support for Victims and Witnesses of Crime in Serbia, funded by the EU, and implemented by the OSCE Mission in Serbia as a chosen partner of the Ministry of Justice.

The project Support for Victims and Witnesses of Crime in Serbia is funded by the EU with the aim of contributing to the improvement of the position of victims and creation of a comprehensive system of help and support for victims and witnesses of crimes, and these instructional seminars for police officers will be held continuously throughout Serbia.