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First-Tac

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Kick-off meeting of the Erasmus+ FIRST-TAC project

On 6 September 2023, kick-off meeting of the Erasmus+ program Development of Joint Curriculum for First Responders on the Use of Force and First Aid Tactical Procedures (FIRST-TAC) project was held in Split, Croatia.

Partners in the project are Ministry of Interior, Police Academy – The First Croatian Police Officer, as the leading partner, and Agency for Education and Professional Training Mostar, Lithuanian Police School and Police School in Slupsk, while the main goal of the project is to create a joint curriculum on use of force and giving first aid tactics and techniques. Along curriculum, partners will develop training manual with material for trainers and learners – description of exercises and rubrics for evaluation, list of tactical approaches with regard to the level of threat, video material with description of techniques, etc. Furthermore, the project foresees four pilot trainings that will enable partners to refine and perfect the developed curriculum and training manual.

The ultimate goal of the project is to improve and standardize conduct of first responding police officers when using coercive measures and providing first aid, through the exchange of experiences and good practices and the harmonization of national programs of partner countries.

Project duration is 20 months (1/9/2023 – 30/4/2025), and project lump sum is 250.000,00 EUR.

The project contains four Work Packages:

  • WP1 Project Management
  • WP 2 Development of a joint curriculum and training manual for first responders on the use of force and first aid tactics and techniques
  • WP 3 Implementation of the curriculum and training manual for first responders on the use of force and first aid tactics and techniques in pilot trainings in partner countries
  • WP 4 Sustainability and visibility of the project.

The project was opened by the head of the Police Academy, Josip Ćelić. He thanked the project partners for joining the project and noted that the Ministry of the Interior, Police Academy, as the leading partner, chose the partners because of their commitment, expertise and excellent existing cooperation. By working on the project, he added, partners will be able to strengthen these ties further and thereby contribute to long-term benefits for police education in partner countries.

During the meeting, representatives of partner institutions also had the opportunity to express their expectations from the project and present their institutions.

Director of the Agency for Education and Professional Training Mostar (AEPTM), Marko Vujević, thanked the hosting institution for the invitation to participate in the project, stressing that AEPTM is very open to international cooperation and that it already successfully cooperates with international organizations and EU agencies such as INTERPA, CEPOL, Frontex and the like. AEPTM was founded in 2008 within the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its main goal is the education of police officers at the state level. The key partners of AEPTM in the training are the Border Police of BiH, the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the State Investigation and Protection Agency.

Deputy Head of the Lithuanian Police School, Mindaugas Bilius, expressed his gratitude for participating in the project with the Police Academy and the Police School in Slupsk once again, recalling the previous joint project, which focused on the cadets and basic training of future police officers. The new project, with a new partner, will be an opportunity to upgrade the acquired experience, he added. The Lithuanian Police School is part of the Ministry of the Interior, Police Department, and is one of the four institutions in charge of police education in Lithuania. It provides basic police education, as well as continuous education.

Commandant of Police School in Slupsk, Piotr Cekala, also expressed his satisfaction with participating in the project and the opportunity to exchange experience in the education of police officers through a joint project. Acting Head of Commandant’s Office, Michal Jaskowski, presented the work of the School, which is one of six institutions for police education and is the oldest in Poland. More than 1,500 participants of basic training annually, as well as more than 2,500 police officers on 30 different specialist programs attend the school.

Presenting Police Academy and its project team members to the partners, Deputy Head Mirjana Abramović emphasized that Police Academy actively facilitates and encourages its employees and departments to participate in tenders for EU funding. It is one of the organizational units of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, which, in addition to the Internal Security Fund (ISF), applies through other programs and funds, including the Horizon Europe program, as well as Erasmus+. “We can proudly say that the FIRST-TAC project is our first initiative within the Erasmus+ program, in which we are the leading partner”, she concluded.

In the first part of the meeting, the project manager in front of Police Academy, Ksenija Vujčić, presented in more detail the planned activities and obligations of the partners in the project. The second part of the meeting was dedicated to concrete arrangements regarding the first project activity – online meeting of experts who will participate in the development of the new curriculum.