Executive Director underlines CEPOL’s commitment to reinforce training offer on LGBTI issues

CEPOL Executive Director, Ms. Montserrat Marín López, participated last week in an online meeting with representatives of the European LGBT Police Association (EGPA) following an invitation from EGPA's President, Mr. Alain Parmentier.

During the meeting, Ms. Marín López provided an overview on the agency’s latest training activities with a particular focus on fundamental rights, covering topics such as hate crime and hate speech prevention, victim protection and support, domestic violence and gender issues, as well as fundamental rights in the context of other areas, e.g. intelligence-led policing, cyber-investigations, artificial intelligence and interoperability.

As part of the portfolio of activities undertaken by this confederation of national LGBT Police Associations from across Europe, the Vice President of EGPA, Ms. Isabel Tapia, highlighted the organisation of training in police academies at national level, as well as continuous training, with the support of the Council of Europe, within various police services. Within this frame, the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity unit (SOGI) of this organisation developed a training manual on “Policing Hate Crime against LGBTI persons” for a professional police response to tackle hate crime.

“Without the essential skills to identify and investigate hate crimes against LGBTI persons, the police cannot ensure justice and protection for victims, gain the confidence of communities or contribute to the fair and transparent application of national hate crime laws”, highlighted EGPA’s Vice President.

"Our societies are built upon the respect of human rights and law enforcement plays a key role in our common efforts to protect the most vulnerable. Fundamental rights aspects have always been included in CEPOL training activities, both onsite and online, and this is the only way forward. CEPOL is committed to continue this path and ready to step up its efforts to ensure that the protection of fundamental rights, including LGBTI rights, will always remain at the core of the agency’s training offer", underlined the CEPOL Executive Director.

She also particularly stressed the role of training in promoting best practices and increasing awareness and understanding of law enforcement towards particular difficulties and challenges that LGBTI people face. "Taking into account the current situation in Ukraine and the subsequent surge in migration flows and asylum requests, law enforcement agencies working in the frontline can become a hub that brings together all relevant support structures, e.g. national bodies, civil society, etc. In this respect training can offer law enforcement officials valuable tools at EU level, so that LGBTI people fleeing their country receive the best possible support during their time of need", noted Ms Marín López.

The meeting represented a good occasion to exchange views and good practices and further explore possible synergies and opportunities of concrete cooperation in the field of law enforcement training, as EGPA offers a platform to share knowledge and best practices in order to tackle discrimination towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, not only within law enforcement structures but also in EU societies in general.