Page 47 - The CoESPU Magazine N 1 - 2018

Comparison between models of urban security in

Europe. The northern Irish case: the P.S.N.I. of Newry

Urban pattern is the place where security has increasingly a key role in ensuring a civil coexistence.
However, if the topics of urban security are now contemporary issues, various models that attempt
to provide answers to the
growing demand of "good
security", have failed to
fulfil this task in many
cases. That is why I have
personally tried to look to
other models of urban
security, sometimes little
known, but which I
consider interesting and
useful elements for a
discussion, ideas for a
constructive debate on issues we should measure ourselves on a daily basis. My intent was to
compare Italian urban security approach with another relevant one, and I examined the urban safety
policies in force in the United Kingdom, in particular in the Northern Irish reality. I planned to
emphasize the differences not only about the socio-economic reality and legislation, but also about
the organizational and operational areas of the police forces. My personal interest in the topics and
issues related to safety and security is the incentive that inspired this work, in order to bring out
ideas and critical remarks and find solutions that might contribute to an improvement of the status
of the urban security in my country.
I deliberately placed the emphasis on a situation that legally, socially and administratively may
seem far from our own. This diversity allows an outside observer to grasp contents, operational
methods, nuances of a different social context and bring out the real strengths and weaknesses of
the model examined. A society, the Northern Irish, that has only recently reached an acceptable
balance in the level of coexistence between its different components, after the bitter conflict ended
in the 90s, a balance that regulatory and organizational structures in the field of security, consider
fundamental to guarantee a civilized society. That is why I have not only evaluated legal and
regulatory issues, but also analysed the police force that operates: the PSNI (Police Service of
Northern Ireland), an operating structure that, in the field of community policing, knows how to
combine prevention with control of the territory.
The most evident aspect that emerges from this study is the different methodological and
operational approach of the two realities considered. The Italian situation can be described as Top-
Down direction, in which the central government has monopolized the interventions related to
urban security, and where the police forces, operating in and around the towns, are mainly domestic
ones. The outcome of this Italian approach has been disappointing in most cases, with the
consequent result of an increased level of insecurity perceived by the citizens.

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