The Future of Afghan Police

"One of the main tasks of the mission of the Republic of Hungary is to contribute to the establishment of security in the province. It is in our mutual interest to fulfil this task and to support the work of the other from both the military and the police side. I have to thank PRT’s police contingent of three for their work and for organizing the course, and I especially note the productive and enthusiastic work of Police Majors Dr. Zsolt Molnár and Dr. Róbert Egri, employees of the Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement (IRM) and guest lecturers of the course, who have transferred their knowledge and valuable experiences to the Afghan colleagues" – said Lieutenant Colonel Attila Budai.

The core topic of the course was the methodology of strategic planning, which is essential in law enforcement and under the local circumstances it is nearly missing from police work. The PRT policemen had organized training courses in a number of professional topics before (crime scene investigation, investigation, traffic police, secret investigation, tactics) and the time has come for police ’middle managers’ to see these special fields in context, in a system, thus be able to apply them in an organized way. The lecturers have taught special methods for this; by applying the so-called ’future changing techniques’ officers can organize their work consciously and give forward-looking answers to every question falling within their scope of responsibility. During the course – in addition to police leadership/management and organizational studies – they put large emphasis on the development of management and communicational skills encountered in practice, and on conflict management. The attendees have also participated in a preparatory course on self-knowledge, and learned about time management, which has proven to be very useful in Western cultures, with the help of the tutors who gave practical examples of that.

"The preparations necessary for management training require a lot more work and time than regular training courses do. Under the local conditions it was almost impossible to implement this since we didn’t have sufficient information beforehand on the attendees of the course, the local culture, and the operations of Afghan police, therefore the option of adaptability played a major role in choosing the methodology of education" – as Police Major Dr. Zsolt Molnár has shared his experiences with us.

Another important training component was team building, that has proven to be applicable and effective in a number of crisis areas. Beyond deepening participants’ professional knowledge, the situational games have boosted commitment and ’broke the ice’ fast, proving that they are an useful instrument for teaching the attendees the rules of cooperation.

The Hungarian Police have been organizing management training courses for years, and the guest lecturers have led several courses in Hungarian and international law enforcement. Having recognized how important the training is, there are some more courses in progress in the educational institutions of IRM, moreover, on the model of the training course for the Afghan Police, the ministry organizes management courses in foreign countries as well, where other nations can learn about management skills from Hungarian policemen.