Page 48 - The CoESPU Magazine N 1 - 2018

Totally different is the approach to
safety in urban areas of the British
context and in particular in the
Northern Irish territory. The
policies developed in this area refer
to a precise and defined legal
framework. It describes in detail
skills, actions, operating procedures
of all actors, who have the
responsibility for implementation
and security policy management.
This vision could be called
Bottom-up, where the emerging character is a central government that leaves space to the local
context, which has responsibility and manages the policies for security. The PCSPs (Policing and
Community Safety Partnerships) are the most symbolic demonstration.
This is an example in Europe of power assignment to local authorities on security issues. The Crime
and Disorder Act, in fact, in one of his first articles (Art.5) explicitly states that the policies of
prevention related to "crime and urban disorder" are responsibility of local governments in
cooperation with the police authorities.
Diagnosis and partnerships are the key words of the strategy identified by this Act.
Diagnosis, because an intervention strategy can be outlined, only if it is preceded by the analysis of
the urban context in which it is supposed to take action.
Parnership, because the participation of the institutional functions in the area, is the best tool for
planning and implementing such strategies.
In the police forces of the British context and in particular the Northern Irish one, there are
structures, specifically the PSNI, which perfectly identify with the new role of the integrated and
proximity police, where the focus is on the theme of partnership, and thus in the responsibility and
the proper involvement of the relevant partners. The police structure operating in Northern Ireland,
together with local authorities, is responsible for local projects of integrated security, as provided by
the Crime and Disorder Act.

Written by:
Pasquale Marchetto has a degree in “Scienze Politiche” (Bologna
University, Italy). He collaborates with “Società italiana di Vittimologia”
(SIV) in Bologna, as researcher about security problems, focused on
European urban security models.
Among his latest researches, the mediation police in Spain and in other
European countries was the topic of his seminars at Bologna University last
year.

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