This piece was written by Anna Rau, Executive Director of the German Forum for Urban Security and Moritz Konradi, a Project Manager at Efus, the European Forum for Urban Security, a Europe-wide network of local governments dedicated to urban security.

A wave of terror attacks across Europe since 2014 thrust issues of security into public consciousness. Despite Europe’s strong record on ensuring a high level of security while maintaining civil liberties, traumatised populations demanded new protections to keep them safe.

Traditionally, security has only been discussed in national terms, but today, local governments are increasingly concerned with security issues in their day-to-day work. Citizens demand a safe environment, in which they can move freely and safely through the city, without discrimination or threats, at all times of the day and night.

“In my daily work, I spend a week dealing with vandalism through graffiti, trying to reduce risk factors of young people and prevent them from slipping into addiction or crime, a group of Salafists heading to Syria, and citizens complaining about homeless people and drug users in public places,” said Dirk Wurm, Deputy Mayor of the City of Augsburg in the South of Germany, at the German Congress on Crime Prevention 2018. “And I haven't yet taken care of the local police service, petty crime and problems in and around discotheques on weekends.”

Urban security is a broad topic that ranges from cleanliness and order to conflicts of use in public spaces, the prevention of violence against women, radicalisation and measures to prevent terrorism. Urban security encompasses a wide variety of tasks and its creation and maintenance involve a large number of actors.

The European Forum for Urban Security (Efus) and its 250 member cities from 16 European countries advocate that municipalities develop and implement long-term integrated security strategies in which questions of social cohesion are combined with measures of prevention and, only when necessary, repression. This integrative approach is the best and safest way to strengthen and promote prevention as an effective and cost-effective response to crime and insecurity.

Urban security is no simple matter, but these four steps could start new conversations around how we ensure urban security while maintaining the freedom and wellbeing of citizens everywhere:

1) Know your problem

Local authorities have the capacities, knowledge and instruments to provide security to citizens and have an important role to play in maintaining, fostering and improving the peaceful coexistence and the sense of security of their citizens. In order to be able to take appropriate local measures to improve individual and collective security, policymakers need a clear and precise understanding both of crime in a given community and of the various perceptions of safety held by different groups of the population. Local security policies and strategies should be built using reliable information and data collected on the ground.

2) Citizen participation is not optional

Given the increasing role of multiple stakeholders in any security project, the question of “co-producing” security has come to the fore. Participation of citizens is necessary at all stages of the conception, implementation and evaluation of security policies. Efus considers this a prerequisite for creating and improving real and perceived security issues in public spaces.

This requires new mechanisms that take account of civil society in all its diversity: in particular, women, young people, senior citizens and population groups affected by marginalisation.

Eliminating discrimination should not just be welcome by-product of prevention measures, but a key concern of any urban security policy.

3) Human rights come first

The terror attacks of the last ten years and the associated demands of the population for security have put political decision-makers under pressure. But the mayors of the Efus communities demand that political action, however urgent, must never violate respect for human rights.

Security policy must be based on respect for and defence of the fundamental rights of every individual, the rule of law and democratic principles and the principle of the welfare state.

That also means focusing on the social and economic inequalities that are still widespread in Europe. These inequalities generate resentment and increase the polarisation of society, which can lead to violence, crime or violent extremism. Municipalities and cities must counter this and work for fair and just cities.

4) Set common goals

To achieve continent-wide security and prevent terror attacks, among other threats, municipalities need to work together under shared principles.

The European Forum of Urban Security has brought forward a number of recommendations for local security policies published in the Manifesto "Security, Democracy and Cities: Co-producing Urban Security Policies".

The Manifesto is a political project that reflects the discourse of European municipalities on urban security and offers both support and inspiration to municipalities across the continent. The Manifesto functions as a guide for the activities and actions of local and regional authorities on the ground.

Working on shared principles and sharing best practices will be vital in the maintenance and reinforcement of a peaceful, harmonious Europe. — Anna Rau & Moritz Konradi