“Sheriffs for New Communities” project coordinator in Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk Regions Yurii Chumak conducted classes for future community police officers who are taking training at Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs now.

The expert noted that the project “Sheriffs for New Communities” examines successful experience of small and medium-sized communities in addressing security issues on their own and introduced current forms of security organization in the communities that were studied within the project. He also noted that "security in the communities can be effectively ensured only with the combined efforts of the police, local authorities and active citizens."

The lawyer presented a series of videos from “Sheriffs for New Communities” which clearly demonstrate how active citizens at the local level are involved in ensuring public order in their own communities. Yurii Chumak also answered the participants’questions and presented them with the books and brochures published within the project.

It should be recalled that in July this year, 131 police officers from the Main National Police Departments and Patrol Police Departments of 20 regions of Ukraine arrived at Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs to be trained at the specialization courses for district police officers assigned to police stations in territorial communities.

The aim of the project is the the police officer are constantly in the community, work fruitfully with local governments and focus on the needs of the residents.

According to the Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrskyi, the project "Community Police Officer" was implemented in 368 communities of Ukraine and the efficiency and trust in police officers in these communities reaches over 70%. In the near future the Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to extend this project to almost a thousand territorial communities and train about two thousand police officers.

Department of Public Relations of KhNUIA