Safe City Tour: Safety Partnerships in Copenhagen

On the first day of the Safe City Tour, Lord Mayor Lars Weiss welcomed us to Copenhagen:

– In the municipality of Copenhagen, you should feel safe; when cycling to work, going to school, or using the city in the late hours. The safety in our city is already high, but we are constantly working to make the whole of Copenhagen an even safer place to live.

During this week, we will tell you about some of the local preventive initiatives that we collaborate on with, among others, the police, organisations and local forces.

Among other things, we will show how we:

Support young people in Folehaven – also in their interactions with authorities
Create safety around construction sites in Tingbjerg / Husum
Create safety around parks in Urbanplanen/Amager
Prevent criminal acts with extremist motives

I see the strong collaborations and targeted local efforts as the way forward for an increasingly safer city. Everyone must be able to feel both safe and secure in Copenhagen, no matter who you are and where you live or spend time
– Lord Mayor Lars Weiss

 

 

Have you met a Junior Officer?
A Junior Officer (JO) is a young person between the ages 11 – 15 who has been through an exciting process with the Copenhagen Police. You can meet JOs in Folehaven, an area in Copenhagen, where Trine is Section Leader at the police.

– “The purpose of JOs is to give young people good experiences, they get to know their own strengths and weaknesses, and they forge friendships. In addition, they get an important understanding of the authorities’ work” says Trine.

The JO programme also has value for the local areas: “We build trust through the process. This means that young people contact us much faster if there are conflicts in their area. They become a kind of ambassador for the good relationship, and it spreads to other children and young people.”

The JO course is part of the safety partnership in Folehaven, and it has an impact on the feeling of safety in the area: “The residents in the area know that the young people are part of the process and therefore see them in a new light. It may feel insecure for some to walk past a larger group of boys but recognizing them as Junior Officers increases their sense of safety. And it just does a lot for the young people’s self-understanding to be seen in a different light, “Trine concludes.

 

 

What do decorations and lighting do for the safety of the city?
A lot, if we ask Tone Schnell DiBona, Project Manager for the Safety Partnership in the Tingbjerg-Husum area in Copenhagen.

Here, a major urban development is underway, which means that for some time the cityscape will be characterized by construction fences and deserted dark areas.

– “At construction sites, there is not always a flow of people and it can be experienced as dark and desolate, so many people avoid passing by. And then there are areas with groups of young people hanging out, all of which can contribute to an increased feeling of insecurity among the citizens. And that is what we must prevent with the Safety Partnership” says Tone and continues:

“Together with the citizens, we decorate fences, make light installations to create a better view and set up balcony boxes with flowers. Sometimes it is simple moves that can contribute to safety and fellowship.”

Tone concludes, “The cooperation goes from the individual citizen to voluntary associations and across administrations, SSP and the police. It is the great professional knowledge we each have that makes the Safety Partnerships very special. That bond takes a long time to build – but it makes a huge difference.”

 

 

There is life in Remiseparken on Amager!
Remiseparken has gone from being a park that many avoided, to being a cozy gathering place for many of the area’s residents.

Eva Sofie Rafn, who is a communications employee and works with safety-creating events, says: “The dark corners are gone, there is better lighting, and it does a lot for safety that you can see the others when you are in the park. There is also a skate park, parkour area and social gathering points, which attract many people of all ages. There is a lot more life in the park after it has been renovated, and that helps to create safety.”

But even though the park is now bright and inviting, the work does not end here. The Safety Partnership, of which Eva Sofie is a part, also works to ensure that the park’s facilities are used in a good way:

– “Voluntary associations, clubs and institutions help to ensure the good tone between the young people who play sports in the park. Here, the collaboration across the actors in the Safety Partnership plays a crucial role, ”concludes Eva Sofie.

 

 

The City of Copenhagen has many safety promoting initiatives, and in addition to the broader safety measures, the city also has concrete approaches and strategies to prevent radicalisation and extremism. Read on to learn more.

 

Copenhagen stands together against extremism!
– In Copenhagen we strive towards creating a vibrant and safe city for all to enjoy. Therefore, it is important to prevent extremism and radicalization from rising. And we have many efforts to secure that.

Come along in this video and watch Mayor of Employment and Integration in Copenhagen, Cecilia Lonning-Skovgaard, give the grand tour as she takes us from campaigning, to a network of mosques and through our efforts to keep teachers and other front-line staff aware of signs of radicalization.

 

 

Has your child spoken with an extremist today?
This message was spread across Copenhagen a couple of weeks ago both online and through large posters on the streets.

Thereby making parents aware of the importance of dialogue with their children and youngsters about their online lives. As well as the challenges related to letting frustrated youngsters browse the internet, as extremists try to take advantage of the situation.

In the video below, Mayor of Employment and Integration, Cecilia Lonning-Skovgaard, gives you all the insights and thoughts on the campaign.

 

 

The Info House model
– Above, we have told you about how we try to prevent youngsters from joining extremist groups. But what do we do, when we have a certain fear that it is in fact about to happen?

In Copenhagen we have a unique collaboration in what we call the Info House model.
And in this video Mayor of Integration and Employment, Cecilia Lonning-Skovgaard, and consultant Muhammad Hee, tell you more about how we try to prevent youngsters from harming themselves and society.

 

 

Cooperation and proper communication across such a large municipality and city as Copenhagen, is vital. Below, Anja Bolbroe and Lars Lindgaard from Copenhagen municipality and police will wrap-up the Safe City Tour by telling you a little more about their efforts.

 

Proper communication is essential!
Anja Bolbroe is a project manager in ‘Sikker By’ in Copenhagen and works with crime prevention and safety-creating initiatives – for example through the collaboration ‘Your Officer’.

Anja explains, “Through ‘Your Officer’, we create dialogue events and crime prevention campaigns. It can be prevention of pickpocketing or safety in the nightlife. It is important to me that everything we do opens up for dialogue – and that it is always relevant to citizens’ insecurities and worries.”

Anja continues, “The ‘Your Officer’ pamphlet is a dialogue tool that helps facilitate the contact between citizens and police and is also useful when municipal or social housing employees need to refer citizens on to the police”

The dialogue material should inform without intimidating and invite cooperation across authorities and organisations in the city:

– “Our annual pickpocketing campaign ‘Pickpockets Love Distractions’ is a great example of how we play with puns and give campaigns a light twist to avoid scaring citizens when we ask them to take care of their belongings.”

“The campaigns can involve up to 30 partners. It can be the tourism industry, the security industry and not least the operators in public transport “concludes Anja.

 

 

‘Your Officer’ – close cooperation in Copenhagen
‘Your Officer’ is Copenhagen’s local police officer. The officers are well-known faces in the local districts and focus on outreach dialogue with the citizens.

Copenhagen municipality supports ‘Your Officer’ and emphasises that cross disciplinary cooperation is important, explains Lars Lindgaard, who is the professional coordinator in the Copenhagen Police:

– “No one can solve the problems alone. It is important for the local safety-creating work that the police, municipality, schools and housing organisations work together. Everyone knows a lot about the challenges in the local area, and it provides a more qualified dialogue.”

The collaboration is also important to spread awareness of ‘Your Officer’:

-“We, on the part of the police, have a great interest in ‘Your Officer’ being well known among the citizens. They need to know that we are present in their local area and that we are available to contact when they need us. Therefore, it also makes sense that the municipality helps to spread the awareness of ‘Your Office’, as it provides an advantage in our joint safety-creating work, ”concludes Lars.

 

 

And with these words, concludes the Safe City Tour in Copenhagen. Thank you for coming along and learning more about how Copenhagen works to create a safer city and prevent crime, radicalisation and extremism.