Citizen participation in Urban Security - Efus’ approach and local practice examples

Security policies should be designed and constructed around the individual and collective needs of citizens rather than according to public institutions. To do this, citizen participation must be universally promoted and civil society must play a role at all stages of the policy-making process, from conception, to implementation, to evaluation. Efus thus promotes a Strategic Approach to Urban Security in which citizen participation is an important cornerstone.
This presentation will focus on concrete methods and tools to mobilise local communities in the framework of urban security policies as well as the limits of this participation. Efus will present concrete examples based on local practices implemented by its member cities, e.g. French cities’ experiences with citizen councils and citizen participation in community policing or Portuguese cities’ experiences with ICTs providing local and regional authorities with new tools to foster the participation and empowerment of citizens and to provide better services and governance.
Efus is a network gathering 250 cities and regions from 16 European countries and further partners, promoting a balanced approach to urban security that combines prevention, sanction and social cohesion. It supports local and regional authorities in the design, development and evaluation of their security policies.