On February 25-26, 2019, in Kyiv NGO “Institute for peace and common ground” , with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation, held a conference “Safe Community”, which summed up the eighteen month program “Safe Community: Stakeholders Capacity Building”. The conference gathered more than 120 representatives of the local authorities, patrol police and police departments (main departments of police), non-governmental organizations, public health authorities, and international organizations, which support the community development in the field of security.
The conference was attended by Mr. Matt Thorigian, Head of Police and Public Administration in Ontario, Canada. As head of capacity building in the field of local security and police and community interaction, Mr. Thorigian shared valuable experience for Ukraine. When asked to enumerate the key factors behind the success of local security development in Canada, he answered: “First of all, it is financing. In the local budget the costs of ensuring law and order shall be allocated on a priority basis. Another equally important factor is autonomy. The community has the power, the financial means and resources to solve the issue of security independently in an effective way, which is the prevention of offenses, resulting in raising the level of trust between the government agencies, local authorities, police and the community”.
During the panel discussion “Community Security is Everyone’s Responsibility” experts came to the following conclusion: to build a safe environment in the community, it would take a broad, all-embracing approach. Safety in the city or amalgamated community is not only about the police and street lighting, but also about the desire of community members to take responsibility for their comfort and well-being. And that responsibility shall be equally shared by local authorities, residents, local businesses, educational institutions, and the like. The philosophy of community security implies the systematic and coordinated interaction of all of those entities.
The conference “Safe Community” is organized by the Institute for Peace and Common Ground NGO with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the program “Human Rights and Justice”.
