From 13 to 15 November 2024, three new training courses were held for employees of the Police Departments (PDs) in Prokuplje, Leskovac, and Vranje. Aleksandar Kocić Ranđelović from the Commissioner’s Office, Assistant Secretary-General – Sector for Education and Certification, and Dragan Obradović from the Secretariat of the Ministry of Interior conducted the training courses. The OSCE Mission to Serbia supports the training courses within the realization of its project activities. The great interest of the Ministry of Interior in ​​the personal data protection field is confirmed by 217 participants in the three PDs mentioned earlier, namely: 64 in the PD Prokuplje, 71 in the PD Leskovac, and 84 in the PD Vranje. Police representatives were introduced primarily to data processing principles and their importance for lawful and proper personal data processing.

The discussion held provided insight into the uncertainties of the application of the Law on Personal Data Protection and the application of other regulations in the police, including the polemic about the police powers to collect data on individual’s identification checks and provide them upon a justified request from other natural persons, as well as the question of whether consent can be used as a legal basis for acting, i.e. when the use of information system during a person identity check is justified. Also, through talks and examples from practice, it was showcased to the Ministry of Interior members when they are supposed to be acting in general versus in the so-called special data processing regime. The lecture also discussed protection measures in the Ministry of Interior, focusing on their importance, primarily the individual and strong password usage, and especially log files for held accountability in acting.