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Security in the City
Werner Leonhardt
Integrated Community Security PolicyAreas of Action and Organisation - Experience in a Major City
Introduction
Prevention and Security Task Force
Project Group Drugs
Project Group Safe Housing
Project Group Victim Protection
Project Group Civil Courage
Crime Prevention Councils in Urban Districts
Developing Crime Prevention into "Community Security Policy"
Dovetailing Repression and Prevention
Elimination of an Open Drug Scene
Opt-Out Drug Policy
Success of Repressive Accompaniment
Greater Security in Trains and Stations
Going New Ways
Socialisation and Reorientation in Youth Welfare
Compulsory School Attendance
Shaping Local Law
Planning Security
Between Dilapidation and Cleanliness
Düsseldorf Report - Effects Research
Abstract:
The standard of security enjoyed in Düsseldorf has been achieved on the basis of consistently integrating prevention and repression - and by involving institutions and organisations operating in the fields of security and public order. Security is being optimized by making it a cross-sectional task coordinated across departmental boundaries (e.g., urban and traffic planning) and no longer treating it as a mere by-product in the performance of local authority functions. Setting up a service unit seemed the best and most consistent way to pursue this idea, which in effect subsumes all activities under municipal control in the "corporate city." Moreover, the success of prevention would be a matter of course if more comprehensive informal social control could be established by, for instance, intensifying existing neighbourhood projects.
Introduction
Opinions differ on whether crime in the community is really increasing or whether there is "merely" an increase in the subjective feeling of insecurity among the public. But one thing is certain: neither is acceptable, and towns and cities can do something about it within the scope of their responsibilities through preventive and repressive measures. Although in Germany, too, preventing crime is primarily the task of the state rather than local authorities, the latter can make an important contribution to combating its causes by giving a crime prevention dimension to their primary functions. The activities undertaken in this direction by the North-Rhine Westphalian state capital Düsseldorf serve as an example.
Prevention and Security Task Force
The central element in the Düsseldorf concept is a "prevention and security task force" set up in the spring of 1994, the crime prevention council of the Düsseldorf municipality. The composition of this working group reflects the macro approach taken to crime prevention. Members include representatives of:
- political groups in the city council,
- youth organisations, welfare organisations,
- the public prosecution service,
- federal border guard inspectorate,
- industrial and business associations,
- police,
- municipal agencies (including the public order office, health office, youth welfare office, and school administration office).
As a rule, representatives are the heads of the authorities, offices, and organisations, whose expertise and authority are vital in putting the results of task force work into practice rapidly and comprehensively.
The body is chaired by the municipal Ordnungsdezernent, the chief of section for public order. Deputy chair is the head of the police department danger prevention and criminal prosecution section. The task force is a steering group concerned with superordinate crime prevention issues. It has set up problem-oriented project groups and assigned specific tasks to these groups. There are now eleven, including:
- "prevention in schools"
- "sport and security"
- "violence in relationships."
The groups develop approaches for dealing with the challenges of community life from a (crime) prevention perspective. Their composition also reflects that of society as a whole, but they naturally have a narrower focus than the steering group, rallying the ideas and engagement of people with a grasp of the subject matter at issue.
A look at some of the project groups will illustrate this.
Project Group Drugs
The project group drugs is composed of representatives from the police, the general public, the public prosecution service, local transport enterprises, German Rail, the Düsseldorf Retailers' Association, a drug aid association, and various municipal entities. The main tasks of the group are to improve cooperation between repression-focused partners and the various prevention project organisations, as well as liaising with the drugs division of the health department. Important projects tackled by the group have been to develop a methadone programme under the supervision of local doctors and the health department out-patient drug treatment service, and to organise and stage drug prevention events in schools (e.g., lectures, panel discussions, role-playing). Finally, the project group has played a key role in developing and implementing a "concept for the repressive accompaniment of the Düsseldorf drug aid concept," which succeeded in breaking up a major public drug scene.
Project Group Safe Housing
Members of the safe housing project group represent the police and various municipal entities concerned with housing, planning and building, the senior citizens' advisory board, the immigrant advisory council, and Agenda 21. The group is principally concerned with improving technical security in existing housing and spaces accessible to the public, overseeing the security aspects of building projects already in the planning and permission stages, and improving the dwelling environment in defined residential areas of Düsseldorf. The activities of the project group take concrete form in, for example, crime-prevention recommendations for developers in so-called developer letters and in the Internet; the development of neighbourhood projects (e.g., networks for senior citizens) in collaboration with the senior citizens' advisory board and charitable organisations; and timely inspection and commentary of municipal draft land-use plans, urban development competitions and building projects, including the construction of transport facilities like underground stations.
Project Group Victim Protection
The police, the public prosecution service, the courts, various public service establishments, non-statutory welfare institutions, and a victim protection organisation (the "White Ring") are represented in the project group. Its main task is to develop and maintain a social network for crime victims, especially victims of violent crime. The ultimate aim is to ensure that at least the same priority is given to redress for the victim as to the offender, and that it is pursued with the same energy and at similar expense. One of the first measures taken after the group was established in early 2000 was to expand the assistance already offered by the Düsseldorf municipality. Thus the health department task area "intervention in life crises" has been supplemented by "crisis intervention in the aftermath of criminal offences." A crisis intervention service has also been introduced for victims of "fleecing" in the framework of a school psychological service for children and adolescents. Meanwhile, a Düsseldorf victim support network has been created through which victims can obtain comprehensive information as well as medical, psychological, and material aid. Thus practical help is available to restore normal order in a victim's life. In addition to this practical activity, "victim protection conferences" are staged to present networking structures and improvements to a wider audience that includes multipliers in churches and charitable organisations.
Project Group Civil Courage
The project group civil courage brings together representatives from the churches, youth associations, the municipal sports association, city council political groups, various municipal administrative entities, and the police. Among the group's activities have been multiplier training courses in sports clubs and schools; training programmes for students on how to deal constructively with conflicts and violence (self-assertion training); the development of teaching programmes and media; and, with appropriate media publicity, the honouring of citizens who have acted courageously. There are also comprehensive public relations activities including poster campaigns in busses and trains and the use of the usual advertising media (radio, newspapers, videowalls, etc.). Public relations are placed under the general motto "Düsseldorf Courage - Act: Don't Look Away." Poster subjects are intended to make people think and are provocatively worded not only to capture attention but also to foster greater awareness among the public.
Crime Prevention Councils in Urban Districts
Given that criminal acts often relate specifically to the immediate spatial environment, the prevention and security task force recommended in early 2000 to gear prevention work directly to specific districts. By the end of 2002 crime prevention councils had accordingly been set up in seven of ten districts with a population of between 40,000 and 70,000. This integrated the expertise and engagement of local organisations and associations (churches, sports clubs, welfare organisations etc.) as well as generating or reinforcing people's sense of belonging in the locality. The success achieved by prevention work under the overall control of a district-related working group speaks for itself. In one district, for example, a closer link-up between preventive measures and accompanying repressive action brought about a marked drop in streetwalking, thus reducing the associated detrimental effects for local residents and business people. This is evidenced by protests from frustrated clients in the Internet about, for example, the strong police presence and the resulting absence of offers.
Developing Crime Prevention into "Community Security Policy"
However important crime prevention councils are, they generally have no independent budgetary powers, and their decisions are for the most part only advisory in nature. And in view of the strong jealousy of their responsibilities and departmental egoism that local authorities often display, the goal of a "safer city" clearly cannot be attained through the activities of crime prevention councils alone. What is needed is a holistic approach, a "community security policy" that presupposes not only clear political goals but also the comprehensive integration of prevention and repression. Düsseldorf has taken important first steps in this direction, which are already being put into practice.
Dovetailing Repression and Prevention
In the mid-1990s, shortcomings in public order became apparent in Düsseldorf, essentially because police activities were largely limited to pursuing crime. Various neighbourhoods were suffering from aggressive begging, vandalism, public alcohol abuse, drug taking, and the like. In early 1998, the previously independent field services of the public order office and parks department were combined to constitute a municipal order and service unit (OSD), primarily engaged in patrol activities. The OSD, with a blue-uniformed staff of 80, has a canine unit and is equipped with a very conspicuous vehicle. The OSD carries out patrols until 01:30 to enforce general street regulations. This ranges from ensuring that dogs are leashed to putting a stop to aggressive begging. The weekly patrol duty roster of the OSD is coordinated with the various sections of the Düsseldorf police department. This avoids police and OSD patrols taking one and the same route. Appropriate technical equipment permits direct contact at any time between individual officers and the OSD operations room as well as police inspectorates throughout Düsseldorf. Close cooperation between the OSD and the police is augmented by common training measures (e.g., stress management in conflict situations, self-defence and operational techniques).
Since August 2002, the OSD has been offering public surgeries in all neighbourhoods, and is also ready to provide people with fast and unbureaucratic help during patrols. Overall, the concept underlying the OSD - to change the behaviour of offenders through communication, information, advice, and offers of help, accompanied where necessary by consistent repression - has proved its worth. The many favourable reactions from residents, business people, and visitors to the city confirm that the subjective sense of security has increased markedly. The objective level of public disorder has also fallen considerably. For example, there is much less aggressive begging, abusive public alcohol consumption, and public drug-taking than a few years ago.
Elimination of an Open Drug Scene
Another example of closely dovetailed prevention and repression is the elimination of a large, open drug scene in 1998/99. In early 1997, up to 300 hard drug consumers and dealers were regularly to be found at the Düsseldorf central railway station, and a total of 4,200 members of the scene were registered by the police. In consequence, medical-therapeutic services for Düsseldorf addicts were stepped up and, for the first time, the authorities backed police and public prosecutor proceedings by exploiting the options available under the law relating to public order and aliens against dealers and consumers from elsewhere. They range from three to six month exclusion orders for a narrow area around the main station to administrative court orders for custody in lieu of penalty payments, and local court proceedings for violation of the Asylum Procedure Act. For example, as long ago as 1998 a dealer spent 79 days in custody because he failed to pay a fine. In the meanwhile, 1693 days of custody have been ordered in 144 cases.
In conclusion, intensive cooperation between the police and the Düsseldorf regulatory/aliens authorities has, for quite some time now, led to:
- many drug addicts and dealers from elsewhere avoiding the Düsseldorf urban area,
- far-reaching normalisation of life in the area around the main station,
- no new open drug scene developing in the urban area, to the knowledge of the police and the public order authority,
- the tripling of demand among Düsseldorf addicts for inclusion in the municipal methadone programme.
Opt-Out Drug Policy
Repressive measures are taken hand in hand with a strict opt-out drug policy. It consistently pursues the idea of intervention, i.e., offering help such as methadone and emergency methadone programmes, but not perpetuating addiction by alleviating problems. The rejection of illegal drugs and their legalisation are accordingly part and parcel of Düsseldorf's drug policy, which means that shooting galleries and the controlled supply of heroin are rejected. Regardless of the fact that by legalising drugs the community declares its resignation to drug abuse and its defeat in the fight against drugs and addiction, the arguments put forward by advocates of shooting galleries or controlled heroin supply also fail to convince. There is evidence that drug addicts in Switzerland and in German cities spend an average of thirty minutes in a shooting gallery. It seems excluded that the "therapeutic reachability" of consumers claimed by apologistsof the system can realistically be achieved in this brief space of time; an addict who just wants his fix is certainly as little amenable to persuasion as in the time immediately after the "kick." Considering that most addicts visit the facility only once or twice a day and that heroin addicts have to shoot up three or four times a day because of the drug's short half-life, shooting galleries can clearly neither ensure better supervision of the risk situation nor hygienic conditions for fixing.
Success of Repressive Accompaniment
From the crime prevention point of view, the approach described shows much promise in coping with drug addicts and dealers. Federal statistics indicate a steady increase in drug offences, 0.9 percent in 2001 (BMI 2002: 42), while developments in Düsseldorf have been much more favourable. Police statistics for 2002 show an 8.74 per cent fall in drug offences for 2001 from the previous year (PP DUS 2002: 17). Maintaining the level of control in public places at risk - with the help of municipal enforcement personnel - and steadily expanding medical-therapeutic help (e.g., emergency methadone) ensure lasting success.
Greater Security in Trains and Stations
By comprehensively cross-linking the activities of all relevant organisations, security in trains and stations was significantly improved from 1997 onwards. The members of this public order partnership (German Rail, local public transport companies, federal border police inspectorate, the Düsseldorf police department, the Düsseldorf municipality - OSD) have thus ensured that both the police, transport company security forces, and the municipal enforcement service are more in evidence in buses, trains and railway stations. Technical security arrangements in existing stations have been redesigned as far as available resources permit; the relevant measures (e.g., the installation of CCTV systems) have been put into effect. Security measures implemented by local public transport companies - like the installation of video surveillance in 17 busses and trains, the installation of CCTV in all new trains, all underground stations, and at the newer urban rail stops - supplement the measures taken by the other partners, especially German Rail with its "Service - Security - Cleanliness" programme. Cooperation between federal border police, local police, and OSD includes joint patrols and spot checks in trains and stations, demonstrating the presence of the law to potential offenders, especially drug addicts and dealers, and considerably increasing passengers' sense of security.
Going New Ways
The comprehensive coordination of security and public-order activities is also the purpose of the "security partnership" agreed in 1999 between the Düsseldorf police department and five private security services (PSD), which the Düsseldorf municipality joined in 2001. The main approach to improving protection against crime and minimising civil disorder is the immediate exchange of information on security and public order matters. The motto for PSD operatives is "Observe, Recognise, Report." This enables the police and - in the case of regulatory law matters - the OSD to take the necessary steps. In this model the partners have agreed:
- to coordinate the three centres of operations by exchanging reports (investigation status and other matters relevant to security and public order);
- to a daily status report by the Düsseldorf police department, supplemented by weekly and monthly reports;
- to optimize cooperation for mass events.
Closer collaboration adds significantly to security and order in Düsseldorf. This is enhanced by the role of private security service personnel deployed in a wide range of areas as contact persons for the public in communicating emergency calls to the police or reports to the OSD centre of operations. Sovereign police and local authority tasks are not affected by the activities of the PSD.
Under the current security and order concept, great value is placed on close cooperation between the public prosecution service, the police and the municipal driver and vehicle licensing department. In connection with high-aggression crimes and drug offences, 180 proceedings were instituted in 2002 on preventive grounds to establish fitness to drive, leading to the loss of many driving licences. In this regard it is also an advantage that Düsseldorf is participating in a research project of the Federal Highways Research Institute (BASt) (compilation of statistics on proceedings relating to drug consumption).
Socialisation and Reorientation in Youth Welfare
It is well known that one of the key causes of criminality is inadequate basic socialisation, that is to say a failure to inculcate societal values and norms. Since people learn best in childhood and youth, the family, the social environment, and the school are the central loci of socialisation (cf. Düsseldorf 2002a: 13). There is no disputing the deficiencies that exist, which, although they cannot be blamed on local authorities, can be favourably influenced by them. In Düsseldorf, the focus is accordingly on early intervention through intensive support for children and adolescents in problem families (e.g., family counselling from the first instance of deviant behaviour in kindergarten) and through mentor and foster-family programmes.
This also involves exhorting children and adolescents to observe the "rules of the game" and - where necessary - enforcing them. Establishments where young people meet, discotheques, etc, are thus regularly visited by the OSD alone or together with the police to monitor the observance of regulations on the protection of children and youth in public places. Checks on identity and on-premise sales of alcoholic beverages are obligatory. Such checks are also made at mass events, resulting, for example, in a very low rate of inebriation among young people at the annual street carnival over the last three years. During the 2002 carnival days, OSD personnel came across only three adolescents with an alcohol percentage of more than 0.5. No inebriated children at all were found. This result - remarkable in comparison with other Rhineland cities - was certainly also due to the information campaign preceding the carnival addressed to sellers of alcoholic beverages about the law relating to the protection of children and youth in public places and the sanctions that threaten in the event of contravention. Press reports about isolated legal proceedings apparently reinforced the desired impact.
Compulsory School Attendance
Obeying the "rules of the game" also means complying with the requirement to attend school, and, if necessary, enforcement of this compliance. This is not a "post-Pisa" realisation, earlier studies had been long since drawn attention to it (BMI/BMJ 2001: 574 ff.). And local authorities thus bear part of the responsibility for successful socialisation in the school environment. Düsseldorf has been exemplary in acknowledging its responsibility by setting up an advisory service for teachers, students, and parents. The task of the advice centre is to network the specialised services of private institutions and public authorities and itself to offer interested parties comprehensive help with, for example, problems (of violence), non-attendance or expulsion, and to arrange for the necessary help as rapidly as possible. In addition, school attendance is monitored by the OSD in consultation with the education department and, where necessary, enforced. As with the advisory service, prevention is the main focus (Düsseldorf 2002a: 13 ff.; BMI/BMJ 2001: 574 ff).
Shaping Local Law
Municipal bye-laws can help minimise uses of public space detrimental to the community. The "Düsseldorf General Street Regulations" as amended in 2000 provide a set of legal tools for combating aggressive begging, abusiveness, vandalism, and the consumption of alcohol and drugs in public places much more efficiently than before. Another amendment to the regulations has done much to curb prostitution in prohibited areas through repressive measures against customers. The police and the OSD have been enabled to issue orders to stay away against prostitutes' clients, as well. Leaving aside the special problem of streetwalking, repressive measures in Düsseldorf, e.g., against members of marginal groups who act illegally, are accompanied by welfare services (e.g., psychological and medical care as well as shelter).
Planning Security
Urban planning and development today must seek to gain locational and competitive advantages by providing an urban infrastructure that also takes account of security aspects:
- by creating a safe residential environment as the fundamental precondition for a lastingly high quality of life (e.g., influencing crime opportunity structures through focal-point CCTV surveillance);
- and by introducing security as a binding evaluation and selection criterion in urban development competitions, tendering, and planning contracts, and thus making sure that the issue is given the earliest possible consideration in the run-up to planning and building projects.
Experience in Düsseldorf has shown that this does not necessarily delay such projects, because architects, town planners, and engineers have now clearly adapted to this requirement. The findings of the secure housing project group and the consequent recommendations will in future be made available to clients and architects in a overview of building law on CD-ROM.
Local-government business promotion, too, can be extremely important in achieving a "safe city." This is the case with events initiated by business promotion authorities, which must satisfy traditional security requirements over and above commercial considerations. And when establishing industries on their territory, local authorities are well advised to pay due attention to security aspects. It is obvious that the media industries beloved of business promotion authorities are incompatible with the demands of a "safe city" if, for example, combating high local youth unemployment requires training positions and jobs in the small and medium-sized sector of the economy.
Between Dilapidation and Cleanliness
Regardless of broken window approaches and zero tolerance strategies (Düsseldorf 2002: 60 ff.), a modicum of order and cleanliness must be ensured if individuals are to identify with the city where they live. Deleterious developments which, as research has shown (Ostendorf 2002, with further documentary evidence), engender a fear of crime and lessen people's sense of security have to be prevented. A state of neglect and dilapidation in public transport or public places due to litter and vandalism alone should provoke action on the local authorities. In mid-2001 the Düsseldorf municipality launched a "project to improve urban cleanliness" to this end. The 50-point programme includes all the important measures for optimizing cleanliness in the city. Improvements have already been achieved by optimizing cleansing and emptying intervals in strongly affected districts and the faster removal of dirt and rubbish by a flexible operative unit. The vehicle, which can be called by hotline, ensures that any problem is dealt with rapidly.
Graffiti are also regularly removed from municipal buildings; considerable funds are appropriated for this purpose. In addition, the graffiti project group of the prevention and security task force, together with the House and Land Association (Verein Haus und Grund), the municipal sanitation corporation, the commercial cleaners guild, and the competent municipal administrative entities have issued a brochure to inform landlords about how to remove and prevent graffiti. This at least filled an information gap that was often reason enough to renounce a rapid cleanup.
A campaign for a cleaner city can - as in Düsseldorf - be a task for the community as a whole. In 1997 the association "Pro Düsseldorf" (1) was founded, an action group bringing together the municipality, municipal enterprises, and citizens. The campaign was intended to stigmatize the "dirt producers" and isolate them as a minority. It also sought to encourage people to take action instead of looking the other way out of fear or to avoid conflict. Solidarity among the overwhelming majority of people who feel strongly about keeping Düsseldorf clean, and who - in whatever form - contribute to this end, is also to be encouraged, and appreciation for their activities expressed. The main purpose of the campaign is to change people's awareness. These preventive activities are supported by repressive OSD measures. Discarding paper pizza plates or cigarette boxes earns a verbal warning or - where the litterbug refuses to cooperate - an administrative fine.
Düsseldorf Report - Effects Research
Since little research has so far been done in Germany on the effect of crime prevention measures, the Düsseldorf crime prevention council commissioned a effects research report in February 2001 from renowned criminologists, psychologists, and social scientists. The findings (Düsseldorf 2002b) and the guidelines for effect-oriented crime prevention developed on the basis of the report (Düsseldorf 2002a) permit a prognosis about the effectiveness of planned measures. With the Düsseldorf Report, the state capital wants to break new strategic ground in municipal crime prevention. The aim is to ensure that limited financial resources are devoted only to projects and measures that have a measurable impact in preventing crime. For quite some time now, measures proposed by project groups, the crime prevention council, or independent project organisations receive financial support only if available effects research findings allow a favourable prognosis. But, the Düsseldorf Report also makes it clear that some rethinking is necessary on traditional principles of social prevention.
Notes
(1) http://www.pro-duesseldorf.de (back)
References
Bundesministerium des Innern (BMI)/ Bundesministerium der Justiz (BMJ) (2001), Erster Periodischer Sicherheitsbericht, Berlin,: http://www.bmi.bund.de/downloadde/8150/Download_Langfassung.pdf (back)
Bundesministerium des Innern (BMI) (2002), Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik 2001, Berlin. (back)
Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf (2002a), Düsseldorfer Gutachten: Leitlinien wirkungsorientierter Kriminalprävention, Düsseldorf, http://www.duesseldorf.de/download/dgll.pdf (back)
Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf (2002b), Düsseldorfer Gutachten: Empirisch gesicherte Erkenntnisse über kriminalpräventive Wirkungen, Düsseldorf, http://www.duesseldorf.de/download/dg.pdf (back)
Ostendorf, Heribert (2002), Gefahren von Kriminalprävention, in: forum Kriminalprävention, Nr. 1, 29 ff. (back)
Polizeipräsidium Düsseldorf (2002), Kriminalitätsentwicklung 2001, Düsseldorf. (back)