OSCE Mission helps improve homicide investigation in Kosovo

Kosovo police deal with some 60 homicide cases each year. While they investigate them all, problems can arise from the lack of a standardized approach, in seeing cases through from dispatch to the scene, to the court proceedings.

According to Carsten Twelmeier, the Director of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo’s Department for Security and Public Safety, Kosovo police investigators working on homicide cases have so far had only general investigation training. “Each type of crime requires very specific investigation techniques,” he says, noting that due to a lack of specialized knowledge, in a number of cases evidence was not properly collected, leading to difficulties in securing convictions.

To help remedy this situation and improve both homicide investigation and the training capacity of the police, the OSCE Mission organized a five-day specialized training course in July 2011. The training focused on evidence gathering, interviewing techniques, analysing telephone records and statements, determining causes of death and categorizing different types of homicide.

“Our aim is to improve the work of the investigators and help the Kosovo police resolve cases faster,” says Twelmeier.

Investigating new approaches

Arta Krasniqi and Siniša Savić were two of the 20 participants of the advanced training. Krasniqi, who is one of only a few female police investigators in Kosovo, has been with the force for nine months now. Prior to becoming a homicide investigator in the Prishtinë/Priština region, Arta worked in the domestic violence investigation section. Siniša, on the other hand, has been working as a homicide investigator in the Gjilan/Gnjilane region since 2002.

The point of the training, according to Twelmeier, was to standardize their knowledge base, enabling the investigators all to work from the same sheet. “This is why we wanted to train them on how to pursue a case from a moment of its occurrence to the end of the court process,” he explains.

Connecting theory to practice

The training was delivered by three Turkish police experts, who are heads of homicide investigation units back home.

“I found the training very interesting as it was delivered by experts who connected the theory with actual cases they worked on,” Karsniqi says. “What I found really rewarding was the opportunity to enrich my experience on how to gain the trust of suspects while interviewing them to uncover the truth and solve cases more easily,” she adds.

Her colleague Savić explained that this was a good opportunity for him to refresh his knowledge, and to be trained by homicide investigators who have far greater experience. “The experts described to us types of cases we have not experienced so far, as well as the methods they used to successfully solve them,” he says.

A dual purpose

According to Tweilmeier, the OSCE Mission has been trying to develop a pool of homicide investigation trainers within the Kosovo police since 2009. A number of train-the-trainer sessions have been delivered since – the last one producing nine qualified trainers.

“This advanced training has served its dual purpose. We helped build the capacities for homicide investigation in Kosovo and we have also enhanced the police’s training delivery capacities,” Tweilmeier concludes.

Written by Mirjana Ugrenović