First International workshop “Criminal psychology” was successfully conducted

The Institute of psychology at the Ministry of Interior was hosted the First International workshop “Criminal psychology”, sponsored by “Hanns Seidel“ Foundation, Bulgaria. The event took place on 24-26 April 2013 in Borovets Resort.

The Workshop was attended by representatives of the Ministries of Interior of Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Turkey who apply the psychological methods and knowledge in the investigation of criminal cases. On behalf of Bulgarian party, representatives of “National Police” Main Directorate, “Combating Organized Crime” Main Directorate, Sofia Internal Affairs Directorate, the Research Institute for Forensic Science and Criminology at the Ministry of Interior and other agencies, engaged with crime-solving tasks took part in the workshop. The workshop was also attended by experts of “Criminal Psychology” Department at the IPMI and its Regional structures.

 

The General Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, General Commissioner Kalin Georgiev, paid official visit to the event. He expressed his satisfaction from the realized initiative and his full support for future cooperation between the presented structures. Official addresses to the participants made the Director of the Institute of Psychology – MI, Commissioner Nedelcho Stoichev and the representative of Hans Saidel Foundation, Mr. Bogdan Mirchev.

The workshop’s program included sessions, main reports and discussions related to the following topics:

• Development of the criminal psychology in Bulgaria – historic perspectives and current trends, Commissioner Nedelcho Stoichev, PhD IPMI, Bulgaria;
• Psychological expert examination in the framework of the investigation and the crime solving process in Bavaria, Mr. Markus Hoga, Germany;
• Development of the psychological profiling in Bulgaria. Psychological expertise in the pre-judicial and judicial phase, Commissioner Rossen Yordanov, IPMI, Bulgaria;
• The incipient psychological profile of a disorder offender – case files, Kiss Csaba, Romania;
• Criminal profiling in Serbia - two case studies of successful profiling - one is profiling  in organized crime and  the second is profiling of the serial rapist, Dejan Kojic, Svetlana Pantic, Serbia;
• Polygraph method usage in criminal investigation process, Lyubka Hristova, IPMI, Bulgaria;
• Рolygraph technique - between probation value and practical use, Negru Ciprian Cosmin, Romania;
• The influence of stimulation/accommodation test in the economy of polygraph examination, Kiss Csaba, Romania;
• Negotiation process in critical accidents: hostage crisis, barricade persons, demonstrative suicide attempts and kidnapping, Commissioner Nedelcho Stoichev, IPMI, Bulgaria;
• Polish system of Police Negotiation, Robert Kotecki, Poland.

During the event, the Deputy Director of the Institute, Commissioner Rossen Yordanov, presented The New Police Leader Project, implemented with the financial support of the Operational Programme “Administrative Capacity”, co-financed from the EU through the European Social Fund. Special attention was paid to the fact that the planned trainings will optimize the psychological-method usage in the criminal investigation, will contribute to a more effective crisis management and will improve the cooperation between the structures engaged with counteracting crime and critical incidents management.  The project provoked the interest of our Romanian, Hungarian and Polish colleagues.

 

In the last part of the workshop, the European perspectives for criminal-psychological practices were discussed and a brain storming was performed. Its aim was the development of a memorandum for cooperation in the field of the psychological profiling, psychological techniques for leading negotiations, investigation interviews, and for the application of the polygraph methods in the crime investigation process.

 

The participants evaluated the workshop as extremely useful and shared the idea that the implementation of such kind of workshops must become an yearly tradition. Also, they shared information about other similar international events, which have to be used by the criminal psychologists for exchanging experience and good practices.
The workshop aroused the interest of the most popular Bulgarian media, which announced the event during the prime-time information broadcasts.