EUAM provides Strategic Communications training for police spokespersons from all Ukrainian regions
August 09, 2018
The European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) brought together the police spokespersons from all the regions of Ukraine for a two-day Strategic Communications training, delivered by international and Ukrainian experts. The training followed up on a similar session conducted at the same time last year for the police. Over 40 representatives from the regional communications departments of the National Police of Ukraine (NPU) came to Kyiv to learn about modern media consumption trends, new communications tools, effective messaging and other subjects aimed at improving the NPU’s external communication and building a relationship of trust with the public.
“The days of one-way communication, when law enforcement institutions would merely report on events, are no longer relevant to the modern world. It is important to build a dialogue with citizens, based on accurate and helpful information as well as trust. Nowadays, there are a number of ways in which the police can use new methods and new platforms, such as social media, to maintain a dialogue with the people they serve”, said the Head of EUAM, Kęstutis Lančinskas, addressing participants of the training alongside the Head of the National Police of Ukraine Sergiy Knyazev. “Moreover, information provided to the public can either ruin the reputation of an organisation or help build a positive image. Effective and proactive communications are therefore very important in police work,” he concluded.
“The result of communication departments’ work is very important for both the police and for ordinary citizens who need to receive prompt and high-quality information. People should not just receive dry information about criminal activity. Citizens should see police officers as people and not just representatives of a faceless system,” said Sergiy Knyazev.
The training covered a varied number of topics. EUAM experts Luciano Scambiato Licciardi, Kateryna Shahina and Maria Aleksevych talked about how to develop effective strategies for social media, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, message development and how to plan for and respond to a crisis situation. Sergii Grytsenko, the Communication and Program Manager of the NGO Internews, presented the latest trends in Ukrainian media to help the police target their information better to their audiences. Alina Frolova, an Adviser of the Ministry of Information Policy, spoke about strategic communications, while Viktorija Cieminyte, the Deputy Head of the NATO Information and Documentation Centre delivered a presentation about establishing and maintaining a good relationship with the media.
