Local safety umbrella

Safety is one of the most important needs of a human being. UBC municipalities have done a lot for their citizens to provide a safe environment. But the question is if they can do more to make the inhabitants feel safe? According to 2009 questionnaire on public order and local safety worked out by the Municipality Guard of Gdańsk, all municipalities face similar problems. Representatives of 34 Baltic cities indicated that the most vital local safety problems are connected with alcohol abuses, traffic, social riots, environment, illegal graffiti and trade, tourists and older people security and more.

A new way of improving the local safety
In October 2011 during XI General Conference of Union of the Baltic Cities in Liepāja the Public Order & Local Safety Working Group transformed into the Commission on Local Safety. The first workshop of Local Safety Commission pointed out the necessity of new and more productive forms of cooperation. It was also emphasized that the results in the local safety field depended mostly on a close cooperation with the community. The community policing implementation was considered a very effective and efficient way of improving local safety and thus the quality of citizens' lives.

The community policing focuses on promoting the public safety which significantly improves the quality of life. The municipalities are assessing what changes in orientation, organization and operation will allow the communities to benefit. It is a concept of a systematic use of partnership and problem-solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to crime and social disorder.

The collaborative partnerships between the law enforcement agencies, the individuals and the organizations serve to develop solutions to the problems and to increase a credibility of the law enforcement institutions and the public trust. The community policing, recognizing that police rarely can solve the public safety problems alone, encourages interactive partnerships with relevant stakeholders. The range of potential partners is large and these partnerships can be used to accomplish two interrelated goals of developing solutions to problems through collaborative problem solving.The public itself should play a significant role in prioritizing the safety problems.

The crucial role of the partnerships
The number of partners can differ from city to city, country to country. However, basically they include legislative bodies, public work departments, neighbouring law enforcement agencies, health and human services, schools.

It is also importantthatall community members including residents, formal and informal leaders, tourists, and commuters can be a valuable resource for identifying the community concerns. The partnerships should encourage the community to be more committed in achieving the goals by active participation in the public meetings and consultations. An invaluable role is played by non-profit agencies and service providers.

Also, the business partners can benefit from setting the local 'safety puzzles', as well. They have a great stake in the community bringing considerable resources to face the problems and community fears. They can also assist in disseminating information about police and its initiatives. Not only can they identify the issues, but also provide essential resources in forms of security technology and community outreach. A significant role is played by the media which is a powerful tool of communication. It also helps to publicize the community concerns and to find new ideas in the shape of new law or code. Additionally, the media can have a significant impact on public perception of the law enforcement institutions and the local government.

How to organize the community policing?
Another aspect of the community policing is its organizational management, structure, personnel, and information system. All these elements should support communityoriented solutions. This requires the application of the modern management practices to increase efficiency and effectiveness. The activities of organizational leaders should concentrate on building collaborative relations to communicate, influence and educate others. The community policing needs decentralization, both in the structure and in decision-making.The frontline officers should take a responsibility for their role in relation with the community. Also, the tolerance for risk-taking in problemsolving efforts should increase. The community policing affects the nature and development of the law enforcement units. Their procedures should focus on the principles and practices that have an effect in the street. The community and problemoriented partnership should become institutionalized in policies, along with the corresponding sets of procedures. The typical measures of the police performance should include such factors as community satisfaction, fear of crime indicator, the alleviation of problems, and quality of life. The community policing calls for a more sophisticated approach to evaluation-one should look at how feedback information is used, not only how to measure the outcomes. The community policing involves decision-making processes that are more open than traditional ones. If the community is to be a full partner, the authorities need an instrument to share relevant information on public order problems and operations with the community. The community policing is characterised with a long-term assignment of the officers to specific areas. The geographic deployment plans can strengthen customer service and facilitate more contacts between police and citizens. This helps to develop a stronger relationship and mutual accountability.

To achieve the goals, the personnel should be able to deal with the multiple responsibilities and concentrate on a team approach to problem solving and relations with the community. Job descriptions should recognize community policing and problem-solving responsibilities and encourage recruiting employees who have a suitable psychological features.

Staff training needs to encourage creative thinking, a proactive orientation, communication and analytical skills. Personnel should be trained to identify and react in the conditions that could lead to of­fences and crime. Moreover, it should raise the public awareness and engage the community in finding solutions to problems.

Technical support
Technological enhancements can greatly assist in improving a two-way communication with citizens and in developing agency accountability systems. Technology provides the agencies with the powerful tools to communicate externally with the public and internally with their own staff. The Internet is used to provide online reports, reverse alarm phone numbers,and e-mail alerts, discussion forums, and feed­back on interactive applications (surveys, maps). Thus, it contributes to the ongoing dialogues and transparency. Technology also encourages an effective internal communication through reports, newsletters, e-mails and enhanced incident reporting. The community policing also encourages the use of technology to develop accountability and measurement systems. In addition, technology can support crime/problem analysis by enabling agencies to gather detailed information about offenders, victims, crime locations, and quality-of-life concerns.

Citizens' involvement, flow of information, educational activities form the basis for the local safety.

A major conceptual vehicle for helping officers to think about problem solving in a structured and disciplined way is the SARA (Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment) problem-solving model. The objectives of scanning are to identify a basic problem, determine the nature of that problem and the scope of its seriousness, and to establish the baseline measures. An inclusive list of stakeholders for the selected problem is identified in this phase. The police, with an input from the community should identify and prioritize concerns. The analysis is the heart of the problem-solving process. The objectives of analysis are to understand the dynamics of the problem and the limits of current responses, to establish correlation, and to identify the cause and the effect. As part of the analysis phase, it is important to find out as much as possible about each aspect of the crime triangle by asking Who?, What?, When?, Where?, How?, Why?, and Why Not? about the victim, offender, and crime location. The response phase of the model involves developing and implementing strategies to address an identified problem by searching for strategic responses. The response should follow logically from the knowledge learned during the analysis and should be tailored to the specific problem. The goals of the response can range from either totally eliminating the problem, substantially reducing the problem, reducing the amount of harm caused by the problem, or improving the quality of community unity.

The assessment attempts to determine if the response strategies were successful, if the problem declined and if the response contributed to the decline. This information becomes a part of the knowledge forthe future. The strategies and programmes can be assessed for process, outcomes, or both. If the responses implemented are not effective, the information gathered during analysis should be reviewed. Mapping the links among the victim, offender, and location and all other has been found useful in the problem solving. The police focuses on the factors within its reach, such as limiting criminal opportunities and access to victims, increasing guardianship, and associating risk with unwanted behaviour, instead of addressing the roots of the problem.

Let's cooperate
The concept of community policing is one of the best ideas assuring not only good relations of the law enforcement agencies with the residents but first and foremost bringing measurable effects in the scope of safety. The other ways and ideas of dealing with the safety problems are described in this edition of the UBC Bulletin. On behalf of the Commission I would like to invite all to cooperation.