February 2006 Police managers and supervisors should receive training to ensure they are aware of the importance of these issues and can address them effectively. The basic principles for such training are set out under Recommendations 9 and 10 above. Capability for dealing with multi-ethnic policing issues should also be taken into account in the selection procedure for promotion into senior ranks in the police hierarchy. As is emphasized under Recommendation 7, the ultimate goal should be that, through firm and consistent leadership and management on these issues, a cultural change in the police organization comes about over a period of years. Only then will the organization itself become a genuinely multi-ethnic, professional and non-partisan body, for which operating fairly and effectively in a multi-ethnic environment is a matter of routine. IV. ENGAGING WITH ETHNIC COMMUNITIES 12. Police should be tasked with developing methods and practices to communicate and co-operate with minorities and to build confidence together at local, regional and national levels. A democratic service-oriented approach to policing in general, and a community policing approach in particular, require regular and effective communication between police and citizens. Effective policing in a democratic society must be based not on fear, but on consent. Police need the support of the public to carry out their work, not simply because of the need to be democratically accountable, but also because the practical co-operation of the public (e.g. in providing intelligence, reporting crime, acting as witnesses, and so on) is essential for the performance of the police role. In any democratic State, therefore, police need to establish methods and practices to communicate with the public at all levels and win their confidence. Police in a multi-ethnic society face an additional challenge. Communication and confidence-building needs to reach out to a variety of minority groups, which may be diverse in terms of language, culture, religion and other circumstances, and which may be dispersed or residentially concentrated. Moreover, some of these groups may have experienced discrimination or other forms of oppression at the hands of the state in the past, including at the hands of the police, and may therefore continue to bear a strong sense of distrust towards police. Police therefore need to make sure that the methods and practices they use to communicate with the public take account of this 24