Policing by soft skills. Training in relational craftmanship.
▶Summary
We applied for this project because we aimed to improve the interactions between police officers & citizens within a changing society. Societies across Europe have changed dramatically over the la...
▶Objectives
The aim of POL-RECRAFT was to introduce POLice training in RElational CRAFTmanship in Belgium, The Netherlands & Spain in a first instance, and to introduce the training in the rest of Europe thereafter. On a practical level, the consortium aims to create multiple training modules that will help street-level police officers improve their level of ‘relational craftmanship’, a combination of communicative, social and digital competences, but also trust building, law enforcement and networking. The training will be developed through four underlying objectives; (1) Develop an in-depth understanding of soft skills needed for day-to-day street-level police work in three cities in Belgium, The Netherlands and Spain, (2) Detect skills gaps experienced by these police officers and match these to existing educational tools to acquire soft skills and relational craftmanship, (3) Develop and test different training modules with street-level police officers in each city, (4) Spread the knowledge & share results to promote the training in national police academies and police units across Europe.