Abstract:

The paper relates to lifelong education of specific groups of security services personnel. Security services play an irreplaceable role in protecting people and property. The selection of employees and their psychological prerequisites are, of course, very important in order to exercise this profession. Psychological preparation plays an irreplaceable role in their adaptation and professional action. Its purpose is to develop social skills by the security services personnel, which would enable them to act effectively. Legal and criminological knowledge is essential, too. A successful completion of the adaptation process is a prerequisite not only for achieving adequate performance results, but also for job satisfaction.

These workers are found themselves in standard and non-standard situations when exercising their professional activities. Often there appear situations where the unexpectedness of their origin, course, demands on the physical and mental abilities of the participants, their outcome and consequences (creation of physical, material, financial, and psychological harm) are in the literature on this topic referred to as crises, natural disasters, accidents, conflicts, emergencies, etc. The behavior of security services personnel towards the others is very important. It must not to be provocative, must not provoke other people to unwanted behavior. They should precede conflicts and induce them. Conflict situations arise easily, but their removal is usually long-term. Security services personnel must be able to decide adequately and timely. A realistic assessment of the situation is a prerequisite for the correct choice of means and negotiation tactics.

Feeling of a lack of own preparedness to handle the demands of the situation creates negative experiences in the psyche of individuals and affect their behavior and reactions. It invokes the need to defend themselves, to minimize the influence of negative factors, to mitigate consequences. There arises tendency to understandable, but professionally undesirable aggressive, panic or escape reactions.

The practice shows that one-time training is not enough to deal with unusual situations, in which the security services personnel find themselves. Continuous improvement of their professional competence, thus preventing their professional failure and destabilizing their psyche, is equally important.

Keywords:

Lifelong education/learning, security services, soft skills, social adaptation, motivation, psychological support, non-standard situations, communication, decision-making