Multi-agency partnerships to locally fight organised crime

October 2022 – Cities must lead multi-agency partnerships to counter trafficking and organised crime at the local level. This is the main takeaway from the session that Efus organised at the 24-hour online conference of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (#OC24 2022), on 14 October.

Four speakers representing the University of Leeds and the cities of Rotterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Berlin (Germany)* shared their knowledge and experience of such partnerships. 

Effective partnerships are key

Dr Susan Donkin from the University of Leeds summarised the main findings of the review it conducted for IcARUS on 35 years of European urban policies and practices. “Effective partnerships are key, but five conditions must be met,” she said. Each partner must ‘own’ the partnership, i.e., really engage in it. What is expected from each partner must be clearly defined and stated. The differences in terms of power and competences between each partner must be acknowledged. There has to be trust, and information must be shared. The partnership must engage with end-users and beneficiaries, such as local communities and businesses. 

Three main approaches

The research showed that three approaches are mainly used to tackle organised crime. The criminal justice approach is based on detecting, prosecuting and convicting criminals. The administrative approach consists in using all the means available to local, regional and national governments to prevent and tackle the misuse of the legal infrastructure such as laundering money through real estate or local businesses. The victim-focused approach relies on international protocols to protect individuals caught up in the web of organised crime. 

Identifying what works best locally

“The challenge is to identify which approach is the most effective locally. This requires good coordination between the national and local levels of governance and often the involvement of other stakeholders,” she said. It also requires a precise view of each local context to understand which organised groups are operating where, whether the Mafia or motorcycle gangs, for example. 

Implementation matters

The review conducted for IcARUS showed that implementation matters and should be properly evaluated. “Multi-agency partnerships and cooperation among the different agencies play a vital part in ensuring efficient implementation.” However, one of the most common issues is precisely the difficulty of making such multi-agency partnerships work. 

Rotterdam: a ‘huge’ cocaine problem

Rotterdam is Europe’s largest container port. “We have a huge problem with the importation of cocaine. Defending ourselves against this is essential to the integrity of the port, and of the city as a whole because it has a huge impact on local communities,” said Marty Staničić, from the City of Rotterdam. 

The amount of drug seized in the Port of Rotterdam jumped from 13 tonnes in 2016 to 70 tonnes in 2019, according to a study by Erasmus University Rotterdam. This trade caters to markets in Europe, where consumers have purchasing power and transport networks are well-connected and efficient. What are the effects on the City of Rotterdam? “Drug-related incidents are increasing and often violent. Young locals are being recruited into drug trafficking. Large amounts of drug money find their way into the local economy,” she added. 

Public-private partnership in Rotterdam

The main challenge for the Port of Rotterdam is that it is jointly operated. Private companies deal with the swift movement of goods, whereas police and the Justice department are primarily concerned with the integrity of the port. The municipality itself also has a role in managing the port. 

This is why authorities in Rotterdam have established a wide public-private partnership involving the municipality, the harbour authority, police, the Public Prosecutor, customs, tax authorities, the port company and the trade association for port companies. The municipality coordinates and facilitates the partnership. “The IcARUS project has provided helpful guidelines for the coordination of the partnership,” explained Marty Staničić. 

Amsterdam: underground banking capital 

“International and local criminals know that Amsterdam is one of the best connected cities in Europe, close to the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp. The city has become a key location for the cocaine trade. It is the base of three quarters of the criminal networks operating in the Netherlands. It also has become the capital of underground banking. Organised crime has been chipping away at the rule of law and the very fabric of society,” explained Karin Wilschut from the City of Amsterdam.

She added that the experience on the ground confirms the findings presented by Dr Donkin of the University of Leeds, especially on the importance of wide partnerships involving all the relevant actors.  City Hall has “a considerable budget” earmarked for the fight against organised crime. The national government for its part dedicates about €4 billion to this issue. 

Joint Strategy Against Drug Crime

Amsterdam pursues a Joint Strategy Against Drug Crime that is signed by the mayor, the chief of police and the chief prosecutor. It comprises five strands: 1) raising awareness on drug trafficking; 2) clearly separating the ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ drug markets; 3) offering perspectives to vulnerable young people; 4) combatting corruption and undermining subversive crime; 5) countering corruption and excessive violence.

The strategy is being implemented with a combination of three approaches: measures against violence; the administrative approach, and a more victim-oriented, preventive approach. 

Resilient City

Karin Wilschut gave the example of the Resilient City programme launched in 2019. It is a wide-ranging programme that seeks, among other things, to better detect crime throughout the city, including underground money flows. Some 1,800 municipal staff have been trained. The municipality also works in partnership with experts such as lawyers, real estate professionals and accountants. One recent success has been the dismantling of an underground banking network and the seizure of 3,000 kilos of cocaïne and €11 million in a clandestine facility. 

Berlin: business-like structures

The third city example was Berlin, with Sybille Wilfer from the Berlin Police Department. She explained that “organised crime in Berlin is largely characterised by business-like structures. They try to influence the media, the judicial system and private businesses, which is very challenging to detect.” 

The Berlin police cooperates with internal and external agencies and other stakeholders to detect and counter local organised crime groups. “Our strategic focus is on a flexible, holistic, and offender-oriented approach,” she said.  

The hacking in 2020 of the (now defunct) Encrochat communication network enabled it to “learn about criminal groups and strategies that had not previously attracted attention but make up a significant proportion of organised crime.” 

• Watch the replay of the panel session
• The full report on the panel session (minutes and slides) is available (members only) here. 

* Dr Susan Donkin, Research Fellow in European Urban Security, University of Leeds; Marty Staničić, Senior Policy Advisor, City of Rotterdam; Karin Wilschut, Strategic Advisor and Deputy Team Manager, City of Amsterdam; and Sybille Wilfer, Detective Chief Inspector and Head of Intelligence Unit, Berlin Police Department. 

Key Lessons in Urban Security

Introduction 

Building upon the State of the Art Review of the research evidence and accumulated knowledge-base in urban security, the IcARUS project has now co-produced and published a Roadmap for the improvement and definition of novel urban security tools. It sets out strategic principles and broad design requirements to be taken into consideration in defining, designing and implementing new strategies and technologies in urban security. The aim of the Roadmap is to provide a framework to guide the development of new innovative tools to enhance urban security. The primary purpose is to inform the tools developed in the six partner cities within the IcARUS consortium. More broadly, it is intended that the Roadmap will provide a helpful guide to security practitioners and programme designers across Europe. It seeks to complement a human-centred design approach to problem-solving and provides the parameters to guide those decisions in a way that ensures the accumulated knowledge from research and practice informs resultant tools and practices.

A Guiding Framework

The Roadmap draws directly on the key lessons and findings from the State-of-the-Art Review of the accumulated research knowledge base and the Inventory of Tools and Practices. In addition, the Roadmap draws upon established guidance produced by the European Forum for Urban Security and its 2017 Manifesto Security, Democracy and Cities: Co-producing Urban Security Policies. It seeks to consolidate the accumulated learning and to present this in ways that can guide future innovative developments. 

The Roadmap is intended to provide a framework that underpins and informs the subsequent IcARUS project activities, notably the design, development and implementation of the tools and practices in the six partner cities – Lisbon, Nice, Riga, Rotterdam, Stuttgart and Turin. The intention is that the tools and strategies will be fashioned and co-designed with relevant stakeholders and representatives of end-users in the targeted city locations where they will be implemented, guided by the principles set out in the Roadmap. 

A central finding from the State-of-the-Art Review is that the processes of problem identification, design, context, implementation and evaluation matter greatly. Much of the research evidence base has focused on the questions of ‘what works’ and the effects on outcome patterns detached from the contexts that shape them and the processes through which they are given life and expression.

Beyond informing the IcARUS project, the Roadmap is also designed to provide an accessible resource to guide and assist urban security practitioners and policy-makers across Europe in fashioning research-informed, innovative strategies. It seeks to provide actionable knowledge with wide-ranging application. However, it comes with the important caveat that all urban security interventions are shaped and their effectiveness influenced by the contexts that sustain them and the implementation processes through which they are enacted and delivered.

The guiding principles and learning set out in the Roadmap are clustered around seven broad thematic pillars. These include: (1) problem identification; (2) partnerships; (3) design and innovation; (4) implementation; (5) outcomes; (6) evaluation; and (7) communication. These have implications across diverse fields of urban security. The Roadmap also provides some parameters for designing tools and practices in relation to the four IcARUS focus areas: preventing juvenile delinquency; preventing radicalisation leading to violent extremism; preventing and reducing trafficking and organised crime; and designing and managing safe public spaces. It concludes with some recommendations specifically for the IcARUS project in implementing and supporting the Roadmap within the consortium. 

Ultimately, realising the blend of past learning with future provision and the combination of social and technological innovation in ways that address the safety needs of diverse communities across European cities is the challenge that the IcARUS project is seeking to address. It is intended that as the project develops reflections and feedback the utility and coverage of the Roadmap will be solicited and will inform any subsequent revisions to the Roadmap as a living document. 

‘Any feedback on the Roadmap in the first instance can be submitted to: adam.crawford@york.ac.uk  and will be gratefully received.’

Explore the Web-Interactive IcARUS Research Overview – 35 Years of Accumulated Knowledge in Urban Security policies just a few clicks away

Explore the Web-Interactive IcARUS Research Overview, 35 Years of Accumulated Knowledge in Urban Security policies, just a few clicks away

At the forefront of the research in urban security, IcARUS aims to learn from the experience gained over more than three decades in local urban security policies to rethink and adapt existing tools and methods and help local security actors to anticipate and better respond to security challenges.

The project uses the Design Thinking methodology as its main tool to co-ideate innovative solutions jointly with local communities, based on a review conducted by the project on the past 35 years of local urban security policies and initiatives.

This user-friendly web-interactive tool is designed to help you explore this research through four sections – Trends, Tensions, Lessons, and Knowledge Gaps – covered by the researchers through an analysis of academic literature and interviews with experts. Their research encompassed the project’s four work areas: preventing juvenile delinquency; preventing radicalisation leading to violent extremism; preventing and reducing trafficking and organised crime, and designing and managing safe public spaces.

Ready to explore?

Enter: https://www.icarus-innovation.eu/tools-insights/research-overview/

The overview is based on the report The Changing Face of Urban Security: A Review of Accumulated Learning compiled by the University of Leeds (IcARUS deliverable 2.1).

Innovation meets Ideation in IcARUS workshops

The IcARUS Design Thinking workshops gathered a variety of stakeholders to develop innovative solutions that tackle urban security challenges

The IcARUS partners have been working over the past few months on building the foundations for designing and developing the project’s tools and practices. The six IcARUS partner cities laid the groundwork for the co-construction of urban security policies by launching the first Design Thinking Workshops with local stakeholders with the objective of designing innovative solutions to their urban security issues.
See the video of the methodology that was applied and read more, below, about the challenges addressed.

Using the Design Thinking methodology, the cities worked on identifying and defining their specific local issues and worked together with workshop participants to ideate concrete solutions. Each of the workshops included a representative sample of the local community, with attendees from civil society organizations, private sector companies, police and other local actors.
Based on the results of these workshops, the next step will be to redefine the problems and develop prototype tools to tackle them.

@Rotterdam organised their workshop on Safer Urban Spaces on 25 May

CHALLENGE: The Spaanse polder business park of Rotterdam, which is home to some 1,800 businesses and 24,000 employees, had long been somewhat neglected and had become a breeding ground for organised crime. Launched in 2014, the Holsteiner project seeks to restore order and reshape the landscape of this vast industrial estate. Despite some progress, a lot remains to be done. The challenge is to minimise the opportunities for crime but also to promote social cohesion within the industrial estate.

@Nice organised their workshop on Safer Urban Spaces on 8 June

CHALLENGE: The main challenge of the City of Nice is to strengthen feelings of security among residents of the Nice North district. Located in the heart of the city, this neighbourhood has two distinct areas, one rather well off and the other more working class. It is also a hub of activity and a buffer zone at the city’s point of entrance and exit.
The risk of burglary, which often increases during the summer, was identified as one of the root causes of residents’ feelings of insecurity. However, following exchanges with the local stakeholders that participated in the workshop, other root causes were identified, such as illicit trade, and in particular drug trafficking, as well as noise and crowdedness.

@Turin organised their workshop on Juvenile Delinquency on 14 June

CHALLENGE: The Turin Municipal Police has long been working on the prevention of juvenile delinquency by focusing on pre-adolescents and adolescents aged up to 18 as well as on young adults. Now, they are also working in close collaboration with NGOs targeting children in their first 1,000 days of life. This type of early prevention has become necessary with the emergence of what local media have termed ‘baby gangs’, or groups of very young people who gather spontaneously and are sometimes violent.
On top of the various measures taken, the challenge for the Turin Municipal Police is to deepen the understanding of juvenile group dynamics by collecting more data on the field. The City of Turin hopes that a better and deeper understanding of the youth violence phenomenon will help them design more efficient and effective prevention policies.

@Lisbon organised their workshop on Juvenile Delinquency on 20June

CHALLENGE: The City of Lisbon and the Lisbon Municipal Police seek to prevent juvenile delinquency and anti-social behaviour in a number of neighbourhoods where community policing teams work closely with local partners to jointly tackle security issues and improve residents’ perception of security. Notably, young people belonging to minority groups who grow up in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods are at risk of following life patterns that lead to or perpetuate social exclusion in adulthood.
As part of the IcARUS project, the Lisbon Municipal Police are working on the prevention of juvenile delinquency and antisocial behaviour among the young and are developing a tool to promote safe behaviours and positive lifestyles (more info on the article here).

@Riga organised their workshop on Designing and managing safe public spaces on 29June

CHALLENGE: Once labelled ‘the crime capital of Europe’, the reputation of Riga, the largest city in the Baltic states, has significantly improved over the past decade. Today, it is a safe and vibrant city with a growing tourism industry, its Old City buzzing with cafes and restaurants. Most crimes and offences committed in the city are linked to the consumption of alcohol in public places, which is illegal. Recent initiatives to decriminalize it have been thwarted by conservative parties in Parliament.

@Stuttgart organised their workshop on Preventing Radicalisation on 5July

CHALLENGE: Although radicalisation leading to violent extremism is not an issue in Stuttgart, the city has had to deal with new ideological movements and actors that have emerged in the past two years in relation with the Covid-19 pandemic. Born in Stuttgart, the Querdenker movement has become nationwide, organising sometimes violent protests against Covid restrictions that have attracted widespread media attention. The state-level internal security agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Baden-Württemberg (Verfassungsschutz), has identified a growing radicalisation trend within the movement, with right-wing extremist and anti-government narratives gaining ground.
The city of Stuttgart has also been the theatre of serious riots involving hundreds of young people in June 2020, which spiralled into violence against police forces, vandalism and looting. Since then, more riots and revolts against police orders broke out in the city centre, albeit less serious.

Stay connected by subscribing to our Newsletter and social media and learn more about the Tools that will be developed!

IcARUS mid-term conference: harnessing 35 years of local policies and practices to design innovative solutions

Riga, Latvia, March 2022 – How can European local/regional authorities, practitioners and academics better work together to harness the wealth of knowledge acquired over three decades of local urban security policies and make our cities safer for all? This was the theme of the Efus-led IcARUS project’s mid-term conference, which gathered some 80 participants – local elected officials, security practitioners, academics, and civil society organisations – in Riga (Latvia) on 12-13 May.

Titled 35 years of local urban security policies: what tools and methods to respond to tomorrow’s challenges? the event marked the mid-point of the four-year project whose objective is to rethink, (re-)design and adapt tools and methods to help local security actors anticipate and better respond to security challenges.

A review of the knowledge base on urban security

Adam Crawford, Professor of Criminology at the University of Leeds, presented key findings of the state of the art review and inventory of tools and practices conducted by the project, looking back at 35 years of urban security research and practice.

Here are the main takeaways:

Research should also encompass implementation and cost-benefits

The focus of research on urban security is primarily placed on intervention mechanisms, outcomes and effects. Yet, some of the aspects which are of utmost importance for practitioners are not or barely reflected, notably implementation and cost-benefit.

Evaluation is important to inform accumulated learning, but practice evaluations are not yet thoroughly applied and there is also a lack of mainstreaming and sustaining good practices and successful interventions.

Adopting a multi-stakeholder approach from the onset

The implementation of problem-oriented approaches requires a change from the outset: instead of starting a multi-stakeholder collaboration after the problem has been defined by a single-agency organisational perspective (e.g. police) the multi-stakeholder approach must be implemented before to define the problem and include different perspectives.

Joining up academic research, policy-making and practice

The question of how to harness the knowledge on research and practice accumulated over the past 35 years was further developed in a panel session, which focused on how to strengthen and improve cooperation between research and urban security policies and practices.

Speakers noted that each category of urban stakeholders work on different time-frames and with a different finality: political decision-makers need results within the electoral cycle; researchers are not always aware of the constraints of both political decision-makers and practitioners on the ground, and the latter often find it difficult to collaborate with academics when implementing projects due to a lack of formalised cooperation structures. The panellists noted that mutual understanding between the different actors must be enhanced,  which includes acknowledging the others’  different time-frames, needs and constraints.

A research-based approach in Mannheim

In the city of Mannheim, the Deputy Mayor introduced a research-based approach into urban security policy-making processes in order to inform the political debates in the city council and convey the importance of evidence-based urban security interventions and prevention.

Panellists and participants concluded that urban security stakeholders, whatever their specific field, must be able to innovate and even take risks, which means they all need to overcome a prevailing culture of blame and share both success stories and failures in order to learn and evolve.

Other takeaways

Other key topics explored by the IcARUS project were discussed during the day-and-a-half conference. Here are the key takeaways:

How to design inclusive and safe public spaces?

• Thedesign and management of public spaces must include end-users and their knowledge about their expectations and use of their local public spaces.
• Too often, public space security is presented through a negative lens (i.e. the risks and nuisance to be avoided), rather than a positive one (places where citizens can gather and express themselves, for example). We need to emphasise the positive and desired aspects of public spaces.
• The perspective of women, vulnerable groups and other users must be included from the outset, starting with the analysis or assessment phase.

Strengthening the resilience of young people

• We need to look at youth and see solutions rather than risks or threats. It is important to make people feel useful because they are often deprived of this opportunity.
• Developing resilience is increasingly seen as a valuable approach that works best when nurtured by wide local partnerships, which should include police (whether local or not).
• It is important to deconstruct stereotypes on both sides, i.e. the police and other public authorities on the one hand and local youngsters on the other.

 Technology and urban security

• The design and use of technologies for security should be human-centred and take into account the specificities of each local context.
• ●      Among the ‘human values’ to be incorporated in any urban security technology deployment are: human welfare, trust and privacy.
• A valuable tool for an ethical use of technology is the EU Regulatory Framework on Artificial Intelligence (April 2021), which defines the level of acceptability of a range of technologies and uses (from minimal to unacceptable risk).

Challenges of prevention in a changing landscape of radicalisation

• As the level of governance closest to citizens, local authorities are best placed to prevent radicalisation by enhancing social cohesion and mobilising local partners and networks to this end.
• In the past few years, our democratic societies have seen anti-democratic leaders come to power in some countries. Authoritarianism and anti-democratic extremisms are moving closer to the centre of society.
• Polarising and divise narratives that attempt to undermine democratic principles are increasingly spread by actors who are members of the social and economic elite and use the anger created by social exclusion to feed their own agenda.
• It is crucial to adapt local prevention strategies to respond to these evolving dynamics and new realities of radicalisation.

> More information about IcARUS

> The minutes of all the conference sessions will be shortly available on Efus Network (members only)

Lisbon IcARUS Local Workshop – “Help create innovative solutions for your city!”

The IcARUS Local Workshop brought together partners from the Community Policing of Lisbon, to reflect on solutions to promote safety behaviours among the young. The Community Policing model in Lisbon, developed by the Lisbon Municipal Police with local partners, aims to promote preventive strategies that contribute to the improvement of safety and well-being of the community.

One of the main concerns security partnerships address is that young people, especially those living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, are often exposed to risk factors such as poverty and social exclusion, following life course patterns leading to social exclusion in adulthood as well. Policing in these disadvantaged neighbourhoods requires community policing officers the skills to interact with young people in a positive and not repressive way, to be able to foster positive relationships between police and young people. Also, working in partnership with key stakeholders (e.g. social workers, schools, youth services, and residents associations), enables the police to tackle problems from innovative perspectives, and consequently, improving the efficacy of the strategies to reduce situations of crime, antisocial behaviour in public space and feelings of insecurity.

In IcARUS project, the Lisbon Municipal Police addresses the topic of Preventing Juvenile Delinquency, with the challenge to reduce antisocial behaviours in youth and develop a tool to promote safety behaviours and positive lifestyles. The goal is to build together with partners, a new preventive tool.

The workshop, held on June 20, had more than 50 participants from the network of the Lisbon Community Policing as well as civil society and entities working in the prevention field, with extensive knowledge and intervention experience. This multidimensional engagement of stakeholders is essential for creating a relevant and quality solution during the IcARUS Project. The workshop coordinated by the Lisbon Municipal Police Team, followed a Design Thinking methodology with participants working in teams. This layout helped promote the exchange of ideas among participants for the new preventive tool. During the workshop, most of the ideas for solutions focused on the involvement and active participation of young people in the process. Several ideas were discussed and presented for the construction of solutions that foster youth empowerment and their connection to the community, to feelings of community belonging and ownership of their life project. The unpreparedness of adults to deal and work with youngsters was also highlighted several times as a constraint. To know how to listen to young people and the capacity to involve them in the construction and delivery of solutions to their present and future were pointed out as key competencies to successfully work with youth. Also, was stressed the importance of providing access to experiences and positive references that promote youth civic participation and value the potential of young people, their skills and talents, enabling them to adopt positive behaviours.

The inputs and materials resulting from the Workshop will be analysed by the IcARUS consortium. The elaboration of conceptual proposals for the design and creation of a prototype of the preventive tool will be developed in the next months. This prototype will be presented at the second local workshop of the project, scheduled for the first quarter of 2023, where once again community policing partners will be engaged to share their feedback and suggestions for improvement of the prototype proposal. In the meantime, the challenge of involving and empowering young people for positive and civic participation will also be continued in the daily work of the community policing partnerships in the city.

IcARUS mid-term conference: harnessing 35 years of local policies and practices to design innovative solutions

Riga, Latvia, March 2022 – How can European local/regional authorities, practitioners and academics better work together to harness the wealth of knowledge acquired over three decades of local urban security policies and make our cities safer for all? This was the theme of the Efus-led IcARUS project’s mid-term conference, which gathered some 80 participants – local elected officials, security practitioners, academics, and civil society organisations – in Riga (Latvia) on 12-13 May.

Titled 35 years of local urban security policies: what tools and methods to respond to tomorrow’s challenges? the event marked the mid-point of the four-year project whose objective is to rethink, (re-)design and adapt tools and methods to help local security actors anticipate and better respond to security challenges.

A review of the knowledge base on urban security

Adam Crawford, Professor of Criminology at the University of Leeds, presented key findings of the state of the art review and inventory of tools and practices conducted by the project, looking back at 35 years of urban security research and practice.

Here are the main takeaways:

Research should also encompass implementation and cost-benefits

The focus of research on urban security is primarily placed on intervention mechanisms, outcomes and effects. Yet, some of the aspects which are of utmost importance for practitioners are not or barely reflected, notably implementation and cost-benefit.

Evaluation is important to inform accumulated learning, but practice evaluations are not yet thoroughly applied and there is also a lack of mainstreaming and sustaining good practices and successful interventions.

Adopting a multi-stakeholder approach from the onset

The implementation of problem-oriented approaches requires a change from the outset: instead of starting a multi-stakeholder collaboration after the problem has been defined by a single-agency organisational perspective (e.g. police) the multi-stakeholder approach must be implemented before to define the problem and include different perspectives.

Joining up academic research, policy-making and practice

The question of how to harness the knowledge on research and practice accumulated over the past 35 years was further developed in a panel session, which focused on how to strengthen and improve cooperation between research and urban security policies and practices.

Speakers noted that each category of urban stakeholders work on different time-frames and with a different finality: political decision-makers need results within the electoral cycle; researchers are not always aware of the constraints of both political decision-makers and practitioners on the ground, and the latter often find it difficult to collaborate with academics when implementing projects due to a lack of formalised cooperation structures. The panellists noted that mutual understanding between the different actors must be enhanced,  which includes acknowledging the others’  different time-frames, needs and constraints.

A research-based approach in Mannheim

In the city of Mannheim, the Deputy Mayor introduced a research-based approach into urban security policy-making processes in order to inform the political debates in the city council and convey the importance of evidence-based urban security interventions and prevention.

Panellists and participants concluded that urban security stakeholders, whatever their specific field, must be able to innovate and even take risks, which means they all need to overcome a prevailing culture of blame and share both success stories and failures in order to learn and evolve.

Other takeaways

Other key topics explored by the IcARUS project were discussed during the day-and-a-half conference. Here are the key takeaways:

How to design inclusive and safe public spaces?

• Thedesign and management of public spaces must include end-users and their knowledge about their expectations and use of their local public spaces.
• Too often, public space security is presented through a negative lens (i.e. the risks and nuisance to be avoided), rather than a positive one (places where citizens can gather and express themselves, for example). We need to emphasise the positive and desired aspects of public spaces.
• The perspective of women, vulnerable groups and other users must be included from the outset, starting with the analysis or assessment phase.

Strengthening the resilience of young people

• We need to look at youth and see solutions rather than risks or threats. It is important to make people feel useful because they are often deprived of this opportunity.
• Developing resilience is increasingly seen as a valuable approach that works best when nurtured by wide local partnerships, which should include police (whether local or not).
• It is important to deconstruct stereotypes on both sides, i.e. the police and other public authorities on the one hand and local youngsters on the other.

 Technology and urban security

• The design and use of technologies for security should be human-centred and take into account the specificities of each local context.
• ●      Among the ‘human values’ to be incorporated in any urban security technology deployment are: human welfare, trust and privacy.
• A valuable tool for an ethical use of technology is the EU Regulatory Framework on Artificial Intelligence (April 2021), which defines the level of acceptability of a range of technologies and uses (from minimal to unacceptable risk).

Challenges of prevention in a changing landscape of radicalisation

• As the level of governance closest to citizens, local authorities are best placed to prevent radicalisation by enhancing social cohesion and mobilising local partners and networks to this end.
• In the past few years, our democratic societies have seen anti-democratic leaders come to power in some countries. Authoritarianism and anti-democratic extremisms are moving closer to the centre of society.
• Polarising and divise narratives that attempt to undermine democratic principles are increasingly spread by actors who are members of the social and economic elite and use the anger created by social exclusion to feed their own agenda.
• It is crucial to adapt local prevention strategies to respond to these evolving dynamics and new realities of radicalisation.

> More information about IcARUS

> The minutes of all the conference sessions will be shortly available on Efus Network (members only)

State of the Art Review and Key Lessons

Work Package 2: Task 2.1

Introduction

The IcARUS State of the Art Review has now been completed and submitted to the Commission.  It represents an extensive understanding of the accumulated knowledge base on European urban security over the past 30 years, highlighting key lessons, trends and issues and provides an assessment of the research literature. Here, we present some of the main findings relating to the Review’s four focus areas. Over forthcoming weeks, a variety of factsheets and useful resources to communicate the findings to diverse audiences will be produced. It is intended that these will inform subsequent work of IcARUS and urban security practices across Europe.

The Review and Key Lessons

This Review constitutes an analysis and assessment of the academic research literature relating to crime prevention and urban security topics, and was supplemented by interviews with International Research Experts and interviews with representatives from the six IcARUS partner cities.  The focus was on reviews of interventions including summaries and evaluations of multiple interventions, rather than evaluations of individual programmes. It was limited to the English language, representing a broad overview of the current state of crime prevention as urban security.  Here, we provide the most prominent lessons from the four focus areas.

The Urban Security Knowledge Base

• Despite considerable advances over the last 30 years, the urban security knowledge base lags behind other fields of public policy.
• Nonetheless, the knowledge that has been accumulated is not being sufficiently implemented or applied in practice.
• Urban security interventions are:
  • Often poorly informed by research evidence base (where it exists);
  • Rarely specify the theories of change (mechanisms) intended to achieve the desired outcome;
  • Frequently suffer from implementation failure;
  • Rarely involve rigorous evaluation allowing lessons to be learnt.

The Evidence Base

• The focus on ‘what works’ has provided some rich insights but also reduced the scope of evidence and restricted the methods of data collection. 
• It has tended to imply (or been taken to imply) ‘off the shelf’ universal solutions.
• Greater regard needs to be accorded to the relational and process-based mechanisms that foster change.
• Evaluation is important for accountability, to strengthen institutional development and to inform accumulated learning.
• Evaluation needs to be built into interventions in ways that inform understanding of what works, where, for whom and under what conditions.
• In measuring urban security outcomes, police recorded crime data alone are insufficient.
• Different types of data need to be gathered from and shared between institutions.

Preventing Juvenile Delinquency

• Early intervention and developmental programs are increasing in popularity and have proven to demonstrate success.  These programs can prevent harmful activities before they occur or behaviour escalates and have also fostered a focus on breaking inter- generational cycles of behavioural problems, violence and abuse and targeting whole families for intervention and support.
• Multi-risk component interventions targeted at multiple risk factors appeared to be more successful than single-factor interventions.
• There was a general lack of research that considers measures relating to the progression of juvenile delinquent acts or behaviours, and implications for future engagement with the criminal justice system (i.e. long-term assessments, context-specific measures, longitudinal studies).
• There remain enduring tensions between universal as opposed to targeted (risk-based) interventions, given concerns about stigmatisation and the potential labelling effects of targeted approaches.

Preventing Radicalisation Leading to Violent Extremism 

• Using resilience as the foundation for an integrated framework of prevention appears to show promise due to its holistic approach and wide applicability. However, currently there is little rigorous empirical evidence to support interventions focusing on resilience and, consequently, more empirical evidence is needed. 
• Developing inclusive and community-focused programmes ensures broad applicability, mindful of and suited to the local context. 
• For primary prevention programmes in educational settings and open youth work to be successful and not counterproductive evidence highlights the need to: 
  • Ensure integration of all minorities; 
  • Equip students with tools to learn critical thinking, rather than focusing on a particular ideology or cause; 
  • Empower students with ways in which they can actively participate in the democratic process; 
  • Clearly define core values (e.g. democracy, human rights); 
  • Provide a safe space for exploration and discussion without the fear of referral to authorities. 

Preventing and Reducing Trafficking and Organised Crime 

• The dominant approaches to organised crime and trafficking remain ones focused on law enforcement through policing, prosecution and punishment, however given their limited effectiveness as prevention strategies, some municipalities have increasingly deployed a variety of administrative measures and ordinances with some success. 
• Research suggests a need to examine and understand the underlying drivers facilitating the trafficking of human beings – i.e. contributing industry sectors, to target responses – and to foster policies promoting inclusion and integration of marginalised communities, reducing their dependence on crime and the illicit economy. 
• Studies highlight the importance of multi-agency partnerships and inter-agency cooperation. Holistic responses are required to address the inherent complexity of the phenomenon of organised crime and trafficking. These are enhanced where a clearly defined framework of responsibilities and accountability between partners is adopted. Ineffective partnerships and a lack of information sharing are the most common reasons for implementation failure.

Design and Management of Safe public Spaces

• Interventions at the design stage enable up-stream, early opportunities to affect security and harm reduction outcomes, rather than retro-fitting changes after the event.
• Human-centred design solutions afford sensitivity to local context, a focus on the nature of the problem(s) to be addressed, an understanding the causes of social problems, the nature of social interactions and the ways in which people use and adapt to solutions/interventions.
• Involving communities (or representatives) in the design of interventions creates a sense of (local) ownership and participation, as well as ensuring local context is accounted for and incorporated.

Further Dissemination

We look forward to producing numerous outputs from this Review in the coming weeks, including factsheets and videos which will be available on the IcARUS website.  These are intended to be easily accessed by a wide audience and will focus on specific areas of interest or prominence within the Review.  Additionally, the State of the Art Review will also be publicly available soon on the IcARUS website, for those interested in reading the full detail and extent of the Review. 

Design Thinking with IcARUS: How to ensure effective multi-stakeholder partnerships?

The variety and diversity of stakeholders in a given challenge can be a hurdle for achieving successful outcomes. Synergies and dynamics among parties are vital for a smooth and enjoyable working process.

Download and see the partnering booklet with tips!

Rethinking Crime Prevention: IcARUS at Efus’ Security, Democracy, and Cities Conference in Nice

The entire IcARUS consortium participated in the Security, Democracy and Cities (SDC) Conference organised in Nice (France) on 20-22 October by the European Forum for Urban Security (Efus), which brought together some 650 elected officials and urban security stakeholders from 27 countries to discuss urban security issues, present innovative solutions and showcase urban security projects and initiatives.

It was an opportunity for the project’s partners to meet on-site for the first time and continue their collective reflection on building the next steps of the project. The conference was also an opportunity to disseminate the project’s activities and innovative approach to the wider public, which was welcomed with great interest. The IcARUS partners also contributed to some of the conference’s various workshops and sessions.

With the support of their respective teams, Massimo Fattori (Erasmus University), Maud Ridoux (Make Sense), Genny Dimitrakopoulou (KEMEA), and Efus had the chance to lead an interactive workshop session on Design Thinking: an Experiential Session on an Innovative Approach to Urban Security, which gathered an audience of practitioners. This allowed for the presentation of the Design Thinking approach for urban security and crime prevention – the overarching methodology of the IcARUS project. Practical case studies were discussed and issues were framed together with the audience. The workshop generated a rich discussion on the approach, its feasibility and outcomes, and participants were eager to interact and contribute.

• The Leeds team attended numerous workshops and panels. Professor Adam Crawford moderated a panel on Foresight strategies to better protect public spaces and promote urban resilience, which gathered as speakers Hans Crab – Head of Unit, Partnerships and Projects at Brussels Prevention Security (BPS); Peter Van de Crommert – EU Projects Coordinator at the Dutch Institute for Technology, Safety & Security (DITSS); Miila Lukkarinen – Specialist, Safety and Preparedness Unit at the City of Helsinki’s Executive Office, and Marc Léoutre – Policy officer at the Counter-Terrorism Unit of the Directorate General Home Affairs (HOME) of the European Commission. The discussion centred around three questions: How can cities be better prepared to anticipate challenges and risks in public spaces? What should be the role of new technologies in protecting public spaces and how can cities make a democratic use of them? How can cities take into account the diversity of users and better adapt to the constant evolution of public spaces?

• Salzburg University of Applied Sciences participated in the workshop on Tackling polarisation in our cities: tools and practices to foster inclusive and cohesive societies. Professor Markus Pausch presented and discussed recent polarisation processes, actors and de-polarisation strategies on three levels: Structural inequalities need to be reduced; forums for dialogue and participation need to be strengthened; competences for democracy need to be improved.

• The entire team of the Design Against Crime Solution Centre of the University of Salford participated in the Conference. Professor Caroline Davey gave a speech in the workshop Know your problem to solve your problem: innovating tools and methods to address urban security challenges. She spoke about the importance of problem-framing — undertaking research to properly define a problem before trying to develop a solution.

> The minutes of the Security, Democracy and Cities conference workshops are available on Efus’ website in the corresponding Secutopic sections, as well as, for Efus members, on Efus Network.