February 2006 training in minority language skills. It will also be important for police to have access to properly qualified and experienced interpreters for communicating with persons belonging to national minorities. Especially when dealing with suspects or witnesses, it is extremely important that police do not rely for interpretation on family members or other persons whose competence is unknown, as this may give rise to misunderstandings and inaccuracies which could undermine the quality of police work and possibly give rise to serious injustice for persons belonging to national minorities. 14. Police should play a proactive role in providing encouragement and support to minorities to assist them to communicate and co-operate with the police, for example by acting as partners in initiatives to promote recruitment and to provide training on minority issues. Minorities for their part should be ready to communicate and co-operate with the police for the purpose of increasing community safety and access to justice. Effective policing in a democracy is dependent on having an active and well-informed body of citizens who take their civic responsibilities seriously, and are willing to provide co-operation and support for police to carry out their role. In a multi-ethnic State, it is essential that national minorities also play an active part in this process. As mentioned under Recommendation 12 above, national minorities may have less experience of civic participation, may face barriers to such participation (e.g. language or discrimination), and may lack trust and confidence to engage in this way with public authorities - and particularly the police. If the police are serious about wishing to engage effectively with national minorities, then they need to be proactive in encouraging and supporting minorities to play this role, rather than waiting passively and then complaining if minorities do not come forward to the same extent as other groups. Police therefore need to identify ways in which they can help to empower minorities to become involved in this way, and to help them to build their capacity to do so. Police also need to allocate resources for this purpose. This empowerment can be achieved partly by general confidence-building measures of the kinds set out under Recommendation 12, and by promoting public awareness of rights and responsibilities relating to policing and justice. However, it can be more effective if police can build structured and enduring relationships with minority community associations and other NGOs that are active in this field. Such associations and NGOs can assist police to develop their communication with minority communities, and can provide them with 28