Training for National Police Investigators Completed at Lviv State University of Internal Affairs

Lviv State University of Internal Affairs hosted a three-day training for heads of investigative units of the National Police. Law enforcement officers were trained on the specifics of interviewing children who have been sexually abused.

The event was organized as part of a joint project of the OSCE Support Program for Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the National Police.

The final day of the training was devoted to the practical application of the skills acquired during the previous sessions. The participants prepared interviews, worked in groups, evaluated the effectiveness of their approaches, and discussed the psychological impact of working with sexual violence cases on the investigators themselves.

During the final session, OSCE experts Anna Kozlova and Rymma Yurchenko shared methods of preventing professional burnout and talked about ways to implement new knowledge in the daily practice of communicating with child victims. In the end, the participants received certificates of successful completion of the training.

"I sincerely thank everyone who contributed to the implementation of this project. Every day you do a difficult but extremely important job. I urge you to actively use the knowledge gained during these three days and pass it on to your colleagues," said Ruslan Strotskyi, First Vice-Rector of Lviv State University of Internal Affairs.

Serhiy Hrynenko, Senior Project Manager of the Human Security Component of the OSCE Support Program for Ukraine, also joined the greetings. He noted that the actions of investigators directly affect the experience of a child victim of violence, so such training is extremely important.

The training involved international experts Colin Carswell and Bernard Gravett, as well as Ukrainian legal and psychological experts. Participants highly appreciated the practical nature of the training, noting the importance of the experience gained for more effective work with vulnerable categories of victims.

The organizers thanked the participants for their active participation and noted that such events are an integral part of the development of child-friendly justice in Ukraine.