27/05/2020
The European MYPOL project has carried out several training sessions and is working on the development of a guide to good practice
Image taken prior to COVID19 in a project workshop
Confinement and measures for the containment of the virus have multiplied the efforts of the Police to guarantee security and compliance with the rules. In addition, the situation caused by the coronavirus has put great stress on the population. In this context, emotional intelligence on the part of the Police when dealing with citizens becomes especially important.
For this reason, the MYPOL project, financed by the European Union and managed by FIIAPP, carried out several emotional intelligence workshops with the Myanmar Police Forces (MPF). During the training, police behaviour was evaluated to offer an approach to actions based on emotional intelligence that allow the best possible service to be provided to citizens.
Among the benefits of the workshops, officials highlighted that emotional intelligence has allowed them to more specifically understand the situation of the population: “Now I understand the feelings of the communities and their needs. It is very useful when I need to coordinate with them to obtain the information I need,” said one of the lieutenants who received the training. “Some members of the communities did not want to collaborate with the police because they did not trust the body, however, after applying the techniques learned in the MYPOL training, they are more willing to contribute to police activities”, he added.
In addition to training, MYPOL is developing an emotional intelligence guide that will be available for the police to consult as needed.
The MYPOL project, which counts on the work of the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, has worked on community policing with the Myanmar Police for the past three years and currently, its efforts are focused on fostering public and police cooperation to overcome the crisis of COVID19. In addition, the project continued to contact police in the pilot municipalities of Yangon to offer support and assistance.
