Traditionally, public space is managed by the public authorities, carried out by the police as the dominant body of public safety. However, in the course of administrative reforms, more and more stakeholders with different intentions participate in the governance of public order. Among them there are associations of social work. With their emphasis on the promotion of health and care they represent the counterpart to the executive body of the police. For a coherent and consensual cooperation internal reforms on each side are needed. The Training Package in Social Work and Policing, consisting of 3 modules, is the core output of our project. After consultation with project partners we will develop a 2+3 training package to be tested, evaluated and implemented in partner institutions. The package shall provide training institutions with a basic grid for definition and discussion of major themes at the intersection between the two professional groups, supplemented and supported by teaching material such as manuals and documentary material of best practice examples in the partner countries. In addition to conventional teaching aids (handbook) the teaching and training package will consider the development of instruments for multi-media teaching (training videos, footage of case studies) and practical exercises (role-play, excursions, field trips). This training is trans-disciplinary and bridges the gap between social workers and police. Traditionally, there is a strong antagonism between the two professional groups. We consider our efforts as vital to foster exchange, transparency, mutual trust and sharing responsibilities between these professionals, and we expect a positive effect for marginalised people in the streets. The collaboration between partners will be organised in the following way: First, National Coordinators from each partner country will report to the Consortium about their existing experiences in this sector. All partners will discuss “themes and settings” in this collection of experiences: For example, drug addicts at railway stations, homeless people in metro stations, youth groups in shopping centres, user conflicts in public parks, etc. At the same time “themes” will be identified such as legal versus illegal behaviour, health issues, strategies of de-escalation, limits of cooperation, data management etc. Dedicated “themes and settings” will be assigned to the partners to elaborate teaching modules as elements of the overall SWaPOL training package. In the subsequent Phase of Development, didactical methods and teaching material will be elaborated by partners individually for the modules. A preliminary teaching package will be put together to be tested and evaluated in each partner country. Here, National Coordinators will arrange a contact between national training institutions in social work and in policing. Involvement of Programme Managers in these institutions in National Impact Groups will guarantee sustainable implementation of the Pilot Course in their training programmes in the future. The Pilot Course will be carried out and evaluated in each partner country. In a transnational project meeting partners will report back to the Consortium and finalise the definitive training package. The Project Coordinator will collect the separate contributions, assemble the modules and edit the final product. These tasks will be performed in workshops among National Coordinators in dedicated transnational meetings, via e-mail, and with support from the intranet platform on “Freedcamp”, where preliminary reports will be stored. The final product will be a Handbook for Trainers, with chapters on “Themes and Settings for Cooperation in Social Work and Policing”, “Didactical Exercises” and a “Teaching Schedule for SWaPOL-Training”. Sufficient time will be dedicated to networking and dissemination activities: (1) Reaching out for other training institutions in social work and in other police units in the partner countries, where the SWaPOL training package may be implemented, and (2) Collaboration with international associations and networks in the field of social work (EASSW European Association of Schools in Social Work EASSW), in the field of policing (CEPOL European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training), and in the field of security and public order management of urban spaces (EFUS European Forum for Urban Security).
There has been an increasing demand for multi-agency policies in urban governance to resolve issues of public order and social wellbeing. In particular, the regulation of social order in public space has increasingly become a shared responsibility for authorities and welfare institutions, as multi-agency approaches are believed to be more effective and supportive to marginalised people. Stakeholders are urged to work together in a model of security and safety governance, despite their different ideologies. The starting point for this project was seen in social practice, as vulnerable people such as substance users and homeless persons are "clients" of both professions – police officers and social workers. Vulnerable people are sometimes considered a problem of social disorder and at the same time they are in need of help in terms of social and medical care. However, the two professions show fundamental differences in responsibilities, organisational structures, professional cultures, and in their work methods. Therefore, they may be sending ambiguous and incoherent signals to vulnerable persons in public spaces with severe consequences for their wellbeing. The project team of practitioners and researchers in social work and policing developed a special training to provide a forum for exchange on various functions and responsibilities for the benefit of vulnerable persons in society. A 5-day training for approximately 15 to 20 participants from both professions – social work and police - has been developed. This training curriculum is structured in three modules: In Module 1 professional cultures, organisational structures, professional concepts and practicalities of partnership programmes between police and social work organisations are discussed. A clear understanding of basic work ethics shall contribute to reduce prejudices and build trust between members of the different professions. Module 2 is dedicated to a more specific field at the interface between social work and policing: the use of psycho-active substances among young people in the nightlife. Here, the SWaPOL training focuses on two ways of interpretation of the same problem: Perceived as a problem of health (addiction) social workers apply methods of harm reduction; conceived as a criminal offence (drug dealing) the police argue they must enforce the law. Without a process of communication and collaboration, this leads to controversial policies and a game of cat-and-mouse. Module 3 is dedicated to the problem of homelessness, which is a multifaceted and complex social problem, and it concerns several fields of social policy beyond housing. As homelessness more often becomes a problem of public (dis-)order, it is not only a matter of lifestyle of the homeless person, but rather a problem between three parties: the homeless people, the general public who raise complaints about social disorder, and the police who have to settle the dispute. And that makes it a case for community policing and calls for joining forces with institutions of social work and welfare. The SWaPOL training schedule has been explicated in a Handbook for Trainers, published in 4 different languages (English, German, Portuguese and Dutch). The handbook presents the modules in more detail and will help future consortia to structure future trainings around keynote themes and learning activities. Practical exercises for educational practice follow recent high school didactics of "constructive alignment" and "student-centred learning". Exercises have been carefully selected for a classroom situation when social workers and police officers meet. Excursions and field trips to public places and to social service facilities for substance users and homeless people are conceived. Spending quality time together was conceived one of the major factors to a successful collaboration between actors of very different professional cultures. This could and should not be replaced by online teaching and distance learning. Partners in the SWaPOL project have disseminated their findings widely in international conferences and in so-called national multiplier events, which attracted various practitioners from federal and local police, city councils and social work associations. Although these meetings could only be held as online conferences, they had a significant impact on local governance. In all partner countries the SWaPOL model curriculum will be implemented in future training activities on a local level. A permanent integration of SWaPOL trainings will show positive long-term effects on the way social workers and police officers interact and collaborate in joint prevention projects.