Slovenian police, Roma communities and multicultural competency: a preliminary analysis
Descrição do Produto
Staci Strobl, John Jay College of Criminal Jus7ce Maki Haberfeld, John Jay College of Criminal Jus7ce Emanuel Banutai, University of Maribor, Faculty of Criminal Jus7ce and Security Susanne Duque, John Jay College of Criminal Jus7ce 11. ESC Annual Conference -‐ Panel Session 6, Room Delta
September 23, 2011
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Democra7c policing Accountability and respect for all ci7zens, non-‐discrimina7on, rule of law “Is policing hard on democracy or is democracy hard on policing?” (Haberfeld & Gideon, 2008, p. 8) Law enforcement represents the level of democracy in the country and the level of democracy affects the nature of law enforcement
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
How do you focus policing efforts? COMMUNITY VALUES
INDIVIDUAL and SUBCULTURAL VALUES
LEGAL VALUES
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Roma are protected by… • Na7onal cons7tu7ons • European Conven7on on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (CoE) • Framework Conven7on for the Protec7on of Na7onal Minori7es (CoE) • Conven7on on the Elimina7on of all Forms of Racial Discrimina7on (UN) • Interna7onal Covenant on Civil and Poli7cal Rights • Copenhagen Criteria (EU): democracy with “respect for protec7on of minori7es.”
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Slovenian context
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Slovenian context • Es7mates of the number of Roma range from 7,000-‐10,000 or even 12,000, of 2M inhabitants • No official crime data by ethnic iden7ty • Police trainers say that the main problem is conflict between different Roma groups • 2003 – Submission of ini7a7ve to police academy for Roma problem-‐solving • 2006 – Ambrus incident
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Slovenian Roma-‐related police training: Goals and objec7ves • Operates on the local, regional and na7onal level • Works with mul7ple Roma community members on specific problems • Encourages officers to recognize and work with their own prejudices • Educates Roma people about human rights and police powers • Teaches basic Romani dialect(s), Roma cultural beliefs and Roma prac7ces to police
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Focus groups • Police officers from 3 groups from different police sta7ons in the Dolenjska region (SE -‐ Novo mesto area) • 1 large group opera7ng in the Prekmurje region (NE -‐ Murska Sobota and Lendava area) • 6-‐20 par7cipants in each group • Unequal exposure to the specialized Roma training • 2 women, no Roma • Ranged in terms of experience from 2 to 20 years on the job and represented lower to middle ranks, detec7ves and patrol officers
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Ques7ons asked • • • • • •
What were the components of the police training you undertook in prepara7on for working with Roma popula7ons? How did you feel about working with Roma aker the training? Now that you have field experience, what crime problems do you find the Roma involved in as vic7ms, perpetrators and witnesses? What are some of the strategies you have used to work with the Roma popula7on? What techniques or strategies have you developed which were not in your training? Do you have any examples of techniques or strategies that you used in the moment in response to a unique or unan7cipated situa7on?
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Roma crime according to the police & the majority Dolenjska Drugs Weapons Family violence Noise disturbances related to celebra7ons • Par7cipa7on in larger organized crime opera7ons • Rival families in dispute • Although it cannot be sta7s7cal proven, it is believed in Novo mesto that Roma commit half of all reported crimes (possible myth) • • • •
Prekmurje & Stajerska Rival families in dispute Family violence Copper & Iron ‘Business’ Par7cipa7on in larger organized crime opera7ons • Oken misdemeanors escalate to felonies • Drugs (very few) • MB area: • • • •
– age 14-‐20 (thek, aggravated larceny) – age 20-‐25 (almost no viola7on) – above 25 (human trafficking, cigarepe smuggling etc.)
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Main problems related to Roma • • • • •
Lack of language knowledge (Romani dialects and Slovene) Environment Illegal seplements, buildings Underdeveloped infrastructure in some villages Differences among Roma seplements and clans , e.g.:
– Pusca seplement – unlike any other, it is its own local community. Just celebrated its centennial – Roma in Maribor – immigrants from the 1970s and 1980s, Muslim Roma from Kosovo, not officially recognized by gov’t as a Roma group
• Educa7on • Social aid and unemployment aid – Creates tension with majority popula7on • None of the above are tradi7onal law enforcement problems, but municipal services do not take ini7a7ve
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Minority rights & social aid • Legal basis for Roma minority rights as a dis7nct ethnic community in the Cons7tu7on of the RS (Art 65) and Roma Community Act from 2007 (“posi0ve discrimina0on” or “posi0ve protec0on”) • 98% of the Roma receive unemployment and social aid (Slovenia’s Office for Na7onal Minori7es, 2002) • Roma know they cannot be criminally fined from money received from social aid, according to police • The situa7on represents an overall systems failure to which the police are forced to respond
Roma perspec7ve We spoke with Roma in semi-‐structured interviews mirroring the ques7ons we ask police focus groups. They say: • There are less arrests, less bea7ngs than in the past • More respect needs to be shown by police to Roma in the future (NM) • Roma people do not want any extra rights, but equal rights as those for other people living in Slovenia • Human Rights hence are not distributed equally among people living in the community • In Dolenjska region the police officers s7ll oken act in a sharp, strict and repressive manner, in Prekmurje region the coopera7on is beper We observed warm welcomes and friendly conversa7on between police and Roma in the Prekmurje region; body language between individuals from both groups exhibited a level of comfort
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Police media7on: The way forward? • Proac7ve conflict resolu7on in the Slovenian-‐Roma environment involved rela7onship building between the police and the many different Roma kinship groups • Required buy-‐in from Roma leadership and willingness to have regular dialogue with police about community issues – Roma also par7cipate in the mul7cultural training
• Once rela7onships are built, the police can act as mediators in Roma-‐police and Roma-‐Roma conflicts – Police have been invited to observe the internal Roma conflict resolu7on processes of one Roma group in Maribor
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Preliminary conclusions • Buy-‐in to mul7cultural training and dialogue between police and Roma seem to differ by region (Dolenjska vs. Prekmurje) • Further research in the Gorenjska region (N) may help clarify differences (Sin0 members, coming from AT & DE) • Police media7on was an unexpected by-‐product of the police training program, but appears to be working well in Prekmurje and has poten7al in Dolenjska • Although police are proac7ve in reaching out and maintaining good rela7ons, other government agencies could undermine that effort (e.g. municipali0es, social services, etc.) • Police training and coopera7on in Slovenia could be an important model for other European police forces to consider in working with their own Roma popula7ons
Slovenian police, Roma communi0es and mul0cultural competency: A preliminary analysis
Thank you!
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