Project Presentation: SWaPOL: Social work and policing

SWaPOL will support exchange and cooperation in crime prevention and foster understanding and mutual trust between the professions of public order management. A good balance of social welfare and law enforcement policies helps social inclusion of marginalised people in public space.

The SWaPOL training focuses on

1. general questions of collaboration between social work and police
2. prevention of addiction and delinquency by young people in night-time economies, and
3. social welfare policies and community policing strategies to tackle problems of homelessness and migration in urban areas.

Training activities draw on recent developments in high school didactics (student-centred learning, constructive alignment) and apply creative exercises and tasks for student involvement.

SWaPOL is funded by the EU-programme "ERASMUS+ Strategic Partnerships for Vocational Education and Training" to develop a joint training package for social workers and crime prevention officers in the police in several European countries. A handbook for trainers will be developed and a pilot course (3+2 days) will be tested before it can be integrated in existing vocational training schedules at schools of social work and in the police force.