Published on March 11, 2015
Training for police officers guarding cells
Based on agreement with the Police President, the Defender prepared a training programme for police officers responsible for guarding persons placed in police cells. The training was aimed at fostering the prevention of maltreatment, especially in those areas where shortcomings are regularly found on the part of the Police of the Czech Republic during our systematic visits
Lectures were delivered on individual rights of persons placed in cells and the corresponding duties of police officers. Specifically, advice was provided on the rights of persons placed in cells; exercise of the right to legal assistance; notifying a third party of such placement; exercise of the right to receive medical treatment from a physician of choice; serving meals three times a day at reasonable intervals; removal of medical devices; lodging of complaints. The second part of the training provided a general introduction to fundamental rights and freedoms; international treaties on fundamental rights and their protection; the status and activities of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, including the standards issued by the Committee; and activities and powers of the European Court of Human Rights and the binding effect of its rulings on the Czech Republic. The principles governing the possibility to bind persons in cells to a fixed piece of furniture and the use of restrictive/coercive measures in the safe environment of cells were explained using specific examples from the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, including the legal case of Kummer v. the Czech Republic.