14th Apr 2014
Between the 6th of April and the 12th of April the Institute of psychology hosted a work seminar themed around the conduct of negotiations. The seminar was a part of the project “Listen and help-exchange of knowledge and experience in the area of solving the conflict situations peacefully during negotiations” financed by the “Lifelong learning programme” , the Leonardo da Vinci sub-programme, the beneficiary of the project is the regional police department of the city of Lublin, Republic of Poland. 8 negotiators working for the Ministry of Interior of Poland, from Krakow and Lublin, took part in the seminar. From the Bulgarian side there were participants from the Institute of psychology, The Police Academy of the Ministry of Interior-Bulgaria, The special Unit for Combating Terrorism and The specialized tactical unit for immediate action.
The seminar programme included sessions with presentations and discussions on the following subjects:
• Introduction to the legal norms that are guiding the police employees conducting the negotiations, as well as getting to know how the Teams for conducting negotiations work and function- both in Bulgaria, and in Poland;
• Conducting negotiations in hostage crisis and threats of using explosives;
• Negotiating with suicide attempters;
• Specifics in the management of protests in the Special centers for temporary accommodation of foreigners-Ministry of Interior Bulgaria;
• Psychological intervention of MI employees that took part in the efforts of overcoming the consequences of a terrorist attack.
With the cooperation of The special Unit for Combating Terrorism -a practical class took place, demonstrating the tactical actions taking place when there is a risk of fire-arms or other dangerous weapons being used in a hostage crisis situation taking place in a public building. There was another simulation presenting the process of negotiating in the prevention of a suicide attempt by a citizen- The special Unit for Combating Terrorism and The specialized tactical unit for immediate action also took part in this simulation.
During the forum there was a presentation of “The new police leader” project- the beneficiary of the project is the Institute of Psychology and the project is being realized with the free financial aid of the Operational programme “Administrative capacity” and co-financed by the European Social Fund. There was an emphasis on the fact that the planned trainings that are included in the project are going to optimize the use of psychological principles in creating and managing crisis intervention teams and the trainings are going to facilitate the interactions between different structures charged with fighting crime and intervening in critical incidents. “The New Police Leader” project provoked our Polish colleagues’ interest.
The seminar was a success- there was a spirit of co-operation and team work and the event was highly commended by our polish colleagues as an exceptionally useful learning experience for them.