24 minute read
Part 4: Planning in advance
4.1. Correctly assessing the situation and needs on the ground
The work carried out through the PACTESUR project confirmed what Efus has been advocating for 35 years: assessing the “security land scape” of a city through a safety audit is indispensable prior to design ing urban security policies and measures. Indeed, it is also one the five elements of Efus’ Strategic Approach to Urban Security, including strategy creation, action, evaluation and the mobilisation of different stakeholders.
As regards public spaces in particular, such an audit should also include an evaluation of their vulnerabilities32. Furthermore, any new intervention must be carefully planned, involving all the relevant stake holders besides municipal services and police, including local commu nities and businesses as well as groups that are usually under-represented or rarely in contact with public institutions33.
What is a safety audit?
A safety audit is a systematic analysis undertaken to gain an un derstanding of the crime and victimisation problems in a city or a chosen area, identify assets and resources for preventive activity as well as the priorities that should be assigned to crime preven tion, and to shape a security strategy34
Threats can come in many different forms and can occur in many dif ferent types of public places and at different times. Assessing the risks for a specific location therefore should not occur once, but instead be a continuous assessment of the current situation and risk levels. Risk assessment involves three consecutive processes35:
Risk identification (identifying threats and threat scenarios).
Risk analysis (determining consequences, probabilities, risk levels and vulnerabilities).
Risk evaluation (determining priorities, risk treatment actions, risk acceptance).
The Manual for Vulnerability Assessment
In order to precisely identify and evaluate the vulnerabilities of a given public space to terrorist and other threats, local authorities can use the Manual for Vulnerability Assessment developed through the PRoTECT project,36 in which Efus was a partner and discussed it with the PACTESUR partners in several meetings.
The manual aims to help municipal staff responsible for safety and security in public spaces and their stakeholders to identify the vulnera bilities of a given public space to different types of terrorist attacks. It is based on the European Union’s Vulnerability Assessment Tool (EU VAT), which was developed by the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs as part of the European Commission’s efforts to support Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in the protection of public spaces.
32- Efus (2016), Methods and Tools for a Strategic Approach to Urban Security.
33- Safety audits are only complete when different and often-neglected perceptions of security held by different groups within a city are taken into account. Within Efus, the Women in Cities Initiative (WICI) will accompany local and regional authorities that wish to carry out gendered safety audits in their cities or other chosen areas, which includes choosing the right method, the area of focus, and guidance in implementing the chosen audit methodology. WICI also aims to conduct in-depth work in gender inclusivity in local security forces.
34- Efus (2007), Local Safety Audits: A Compendium of International Practice.
The EU VAT assists local authorities or other relevant stakeholders in performing a number of defined steps in order to conduct a vulnerabil ity assessment for a specific Public Space of Interest (PSoI) against a 35- Efus, PRoTECT (2020). Deliverable 2.1. EU VAT manual. 36- Led by the Dutch Institute for Technology, Safety and Security (DITSS), PRoTECT (November 2018–June 2021) sought to provide local authorities with tools, technology, training and field demonstrations to improve their capacity to assess the level of safety in a given place or situation, as well as the measures taken to strengthen their safety, prevent a terrorist attack and mitigate its consequences.
62 63
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
specific terrorist threat. It lists the probable threats depending on the type of public space that is being considered and the type of activities taking place there, for example whether it’s a square, a train station, or a shopping centre, etc. The types of threats considered can be an armed attack, a ram-vehicle attack, or chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN) threats, for example. The Assessment Tool then produces a risk matrix that allows to consequently formulate adapted risk treatment measures.
Three other concise and easy-to-read factsheets from the PRoTECT project on vulnerability assessments are available to local authorities and practitioners: Preparing a Vulnerability Assessment; How to Use/ Fill In the Record Template, and Conducting a Vulnerability Assessment.
vehicle attacks on public spaces across Europe in pre-pandemic years, the City Council decided in 2018 to secure public spaces and pedestrian areas across the city.
The main focus was to do so while maintaining, or even en hancing, their attractiveness and accessibility, thus putting emphasis on invisible barriers. Wherever possible, street furni ture like benches and planters were preferred to purely technical systems like bollards. All systems need to have a crash test rating.
In the preparatory phase, the Department of Security and Public Order, the local police and the fire brigade evaluated all relevant public spaces, prioritising them according to:
• Number of visitors/day.
There is also abundant information on the European Commission’s website, under the topic “Protection of Public Spaces”, such as an article on Terrorism Risk Assessment of Public Spaces for Practition ers, which gives a reader-friendly and detailed review of available knowledge and resources.
When the EU VAT addresses terrorist threats, public spaces are also vulnerable to other types of threats. Led by Efus, the Secu4All project has developed a specific training module on self-vulnerability assess ments of non-terrorist threats. Via practical exercises and examples, trainees can apply the risk identification process outlined in the EU VAT to other types of criminal threats or risks in a given public space (incivilities, sexual harassments, riots, etc).
In practice: protection against vehicle ramming in Munich, Germany
The capital of Bavaria (Germany), the City of Munich is home to about 1.5 million people and hosts many large events, in particular the world-famous Oktoberfest. Due to the rise in
• Number of events/year.
• Local, regional, national or worldwide popularity and symbolism.
• Accessibility by car/protection measures.
The evaluation encompassed an analysis of the relevant places, both tabletop and on site, in a multi-stakeholder approach (in cluding most municipal departments, local police, public trans port, etc.). Already existing (natural) barriers, rights of way, necessary access for police, first responders and/or municipal services, interdependencies with other places, current use, future development plans, etc., were evaluated and a Vehicle Dynamics Assessment (i.e. profiling the vulnerabilities of a given route or space to a vehicle attack) was commissioned.
> More information in the Munich Practice Sheet here.
64 65
Another level of protection consists of ensuring that all relevant actors (municipal teams, local and national police, tourism departments, urban planners, local businesses, operators and managers of public spaces) have the capacity to minimise the impact of a crisis and keep citizens safe.
This is called “capacity-building”, which is defined as the process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organisations and communities need to survive, adapt and thrive in the face of pressures such as security threats37.The purpose is to equip all stakeholders with the tools they need to better perform their functions in the event of a crisis, notably through targeted, regular training.
Creating a common culture and encouraging open communication
An important aspect of capacity-building to better protect public spaces is to create a common culture among all the relevant stakehold ers so that they work in harmony to prevent, respond and recover from incidents that occur in public spaces. Such common culture must be integrated into response management from the very first training, and should be developed through a continuous training process as part of a multidisciplinary approach favouring mutual learning between actors and the exchange of promising practices. For these reasons, local and regional authorities should not only encourage the creation of training programmes but also ensure they are aligned with other programmes that may exist at the national or European level.
37- United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), Capacity-Building.
It is important to mobilise different stakeholders and resources and to encourage open communication, both horizontally and vertically, as well as the exchange of knowledge and best practices.
Designing tailored training programmes
Each city has its specific characteristics, challenges and risks. Training programmes should thus be tailored to local specificities, but also take into account citizens’ feelings of insecurity as well as the gender perspective.
Such programmes will help familiarise operators, managers and de signers of public spaces with principles governing physical security and locally specific, related administrative procedures.
Strategic, tactical, and operational objectives of a tailor-made training programme
For Preparedness
Introducing security awareness to all relevant stakeholders.
Improving (local) governance of the relevant security providers.
Secure local communication channels, as is appropriate.
Carrying out and assisting in audits of existing situations (document threats and risks, vulnerability assessments…).
Developing a list of security competencies of public servants.
For Response
Ensuring that each stakeholder has a sufficient level of staffing and clear responsibilities in case of a crisis.
Contributing local expertise and assistance to resolving geographi cally-specific challenges.
Offering local communication channels to the assigned crisis man agement bodies, as is required.
66 67
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
For Recovery
Restoring and strengthening the rule of law.
Using local actors to cover the last mile of recovery assistance.
For Mitigation
Co-producing security through the involvement of all stakeholders.
For all Phases
Carrying out soft power projects (e.g. interaction with local commu nities, mobilising local actors towards locally applicable objectives).
In practice: the Gold, Silver, Bronze structure for command and control in case of crisis, United Kingdom
In response to serious riots in London in 1985, the Metropolitan Police created the Gold, Silver, Bronze system as an efficient and flexible command and control structure. Today, it is considered a reference for an efficient distribution of tasks and responsibili ties when dealing with a crisis. It provides a framework for deliv ering a strategic, tactical and operational response to an incident or operation.
The Gold level – the group in charge of strategy and coordination
This group is in charge of the strategic tier of command and control with multi-agency representation. This is the level where the policy, strategy and overall response frameworks are estab lished and managed.
This group determines and communicates a clear strategic aim and objectives and reviews them regularly.
It establishes a policy framework for the overall management of the event or situation.
It prioritises the demands of the Silver group and allocates personnel and resources to meet requirements.
It coordinates direct planning and operations beyond the immediate response to facilitate the recovery process.
The Silver level – tactical coordinating group
This is the tactical tier of command and control within a mul ti-agency representation at which the response to an emer gency is managed.
This group determines priorities for allocating available resources.
It plans and coordinates how and when tasks will be under taken and by whom.
It obtains additional resources if required.
It assesses significant risks and uses this to inform the tasking of Bronze commanders.
It ensures the health and safety of the public and personnel at the site(s).
The Bronze level – operational coordinating group
This is the tier of command and control at which the manage ment of “hands-on” work is undertaken at the incident site. The Bronze group(s) may be formed within a single or mul ti-agency representation.
This group concentrates its effort and resources on the specific tasks within its areas of responsibility.
It executes the tactical plan.
It coordinates the actions of staff on the ground.
68 69
Approaches to building a tailored programme –key recommendations
1. Evidence-based training (EBT) is a training and assessment method based on operational data that is characterised by the development and assessment of overall capability across a range of core compe tencies, rather than by measuring performance in individual events.
2. Gamification of training. Gamification is the process of applying game mechanics in order to increase participants’ engagement and achieve better learning results.
3. Digital educational platforms. The reach of digital platforms’ products and services is limitless. They increase benefits for users such as:
• Allowing access at any time, at any place, in any way.
• Offering the possibility of returning to any previous module to re-visit the content.
• Making the material easier to digest by employing a variety of multi media technologies.
• Providing great flexibility of structure and content for any given instance of the training.
4. Full-scale exercises and drills. A full-scale exercise simulates a real event as closely as possible. It is a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional, multidiscipline exercise designed to evaluate the operational capa bilities of emergency management systems in a highly stressful en vironment that simulates actual response conditions. A drill is a coordinated, supervised exercise activity, normally used to test a single specific operation or function. It can also be used to provide training with new equipment or to practice and maintain current skills.38
5. Exchange of promising practices and lessons learnt. A multidiscipli nary approach that favours mutual learning between actors and the exchange of promising practices.
Case study: simulating crisis situations for local police forces
biggest takeaway is that
are all facing very similar issues.
being together with other police units
A PACTESUR
associated city police officer, during the Liège Police Academy, May 2022
In order to improve the preparedness and response of law enforcement and first responders, it is recommended to organise practical exercises and joint training among local authorities, law enforcement, civil pro tection, medical emergency, private businesses, private security firms and other stakeholders.39
The PACTESUR project encouraged the development of specialised training programmes for local police officers. Three Local Police Acade mies were organised in the partner cities of Nice (2019), Turin (2021) and Liège (2022), whereas Xàbia organised simulation exercises of a wildfire in a peri-urban area.
Gathering local police officers from the hosting city and the project’s associated cities, these sessions held over several days included in-per son and virtual practical exercises, such as an armed commando oper ation in a school during a shootout, or crowd management operations, or how to use virtual reality in training programmes.40 The exercises in
38- US Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Emergency Management Institute (FEMA), Types and Training and Exercises.
39- Council of the European Union (2021). Council Conclusions on the Protection of Public Spaces of 7 July 2021.
70 71
Turin and Xàbia also showed that drones can efficiently be used to prevent natural and technological risks, as well as to assist people affected by a crisis, whatever its type41.
The simulation exercises, which involved not only local authorities and first responders (fire brigade, local police, gendarmerie, ambulance, etc.) but also citizens, generated fruitful exchanges among peers who were able to see first-hand how other stakeholders do it. For instance, many European attendees were impressed by the Liège specialised fire brigade unit that is tasked with evacuating the wounded and transfer ring them to a hospital while an intervention is still going on. Indeed, many European cities lack this type of service. The Liège police, together with the Belgian federal police, also shared with European colleagues their doctrine of intervention in case of a problem in a public space, which is based on dialogue and conflict resolution. It chimes with Police Scotland’s rights-based approach, whereby they also consider their duty to protect the right to protest42
Such approaches, which are still relatively novel, are equally applied to festive gatherings and sports competitions. Police discuss with event organisers how to best ensure things go smoothly and maintain dialogue throughout the event to avoid the use of “hard” deterrents such as firefighting equipment or tear gas. An exercise was conducted in Liège in a scenario where football supporters were trying to occupy a public thoroughfare in spite of authorities’ appeal for calm.
Given the positive feedback from participants, two PACTESUR partners, ANCI Piemonte and Turin decided to expand the training to Piedmont region local police forces. Two sessions were held in 2022 as part of the PACTESUR programme, and six other sessions were planned (at the time of writing) for 2023, with the contribution of the region.
> More information on the ANCI Piemonte’s website here.
The success of the Turin Police Academy led to another round of exercises this time for Piemonte local police officers
The Turin Local Police Academy was attended by about 60 police officers and commanders of various European municipalities, as well as representatives of local police forces from the Piemonte region.
40- The exercises were part of the European Week of Security organised by the project in Nice in 2019 and Liège in 2022. The Turin Police Academy was organised in the framework of the third Local Governance workshop in 2021
41- See also Chapter 3, The use of technologies for protecting public spaces: efficient but not sufficient.
42- See also In practice: Police Scotland and the management of the United Nations climate summit (COP26), Glasgow, November 2021
In practice: a training programme on security in public spaces for a multistakeholder local partnership
The Secu4All project aims to empower local and regional au thorities with theoretical knowledge and practical tools to ensure the security of public spaces and the protection of soft targets (i.e. sports venues, shopping centres, schools…) against potential threats.
Theoretical and practical modules were developed to increase the knowledge and skills of local actors across four dimensions:
Methods and tools to identify, analyse, and assess vulnera bilities in local public spaces and soft targets.
Reducing crime and citizens’ feeling of insecurity by means of urban planning, design and management of public spaces.
Use of innovative technologies to enhance the protection of public spaces and their ethical implications.
Crisis communication with relevant stakeholders and citizens (before, during and after a crisis).
> The Secu4All platform will be available in June 2023.
72 73
Cross-border cooperation and assistance
There is little cross-border cooperation among European countries re garding the management of risks and natural disasters, notably because the notion of communal or municipal territory is different in each Member State. However, cooperation and assistance between rural and urban jurisdictions, between cities, and between neighbour ing countries can be crucial when an incident happens in a border zone and requires the intervention of emergency responders from both sides of the border.
Border towns can benefit from pooling their resources in case of a major incident, natural disaster or terrorist attack affecting their public spaces. They can also lobby their national authorities to conclude co operation agreements with neighbouring countries regarding the mo bilisation of their financial and human resources in case of a crisis, as well as the sharing of information.
For example, in France and Belgium, mayors are required by law to publish security plans detailing how emergency responders would in tervene in case of a natural disaster, an industrial accident or a terrorist attack. These plans must specify the responsibilities of each level of governance, whether local, regional, national, and, in the case of border regions, transnational43. This is not the case in other European coun tries such as the United Kingdom or Denmark, where mayors have a largely honorific function (except in the UK in the case of some cities such as London and Manchester) and do not have the power to take decisions regarding security and civil protection. This makes it more difficult to establish intervention protocols governing the organisation of a common response from municipalities and police forces from dif ferent European countries.
4.3. Exchanging practices, knowledge and ideas with peers
The PACTESUR project has shown that cities are keen to exchange knowledge and practices with their peers at home and abroad, and to learn from their experience. This confirms what we at Efus see and hear every day when working with our member cities. Whatever their size or geographical location, many regularly express their desire for down-to-earth, direct exchanges with other, similar cities on pressing urban security issues such as the protection of public spaces.
PACTESUR organised exchanges through open, in-person debates such as the Local Governance Workshops and the European Weeks of Security organised in Nice (2019), Turin (2020) and Liège (2022), with the aim of giving a voice to European local stakeholders, police repre sentatives, experts and civil society in the ongoing conversation on security and public spaces. They also contributed to raising awareness among citizens and local politicians on their role in prevention and as security actors.
Some of these exchanges have already had concrete results: the City of Edinburgh, one of PACTESUR’s 11 associated cities, has set up a working group on “hostile vehicle mitigation” in order to better secure the yearly Edinburgh International Festival. David Robertson, Superin tendent for Specialist Operations at the Scottish Police Force, said the equipment chosen “was directly inspired by our visit to Liège.” Further more, representatives from the City of Turin visited Edinburgh during the International Festival in order to trial smart sensors for crowd management.44 “This is a first step towards becoming a smart city and a direct result of the visit from Turin and the workshops we attended,” he added. They were also presented to the City of Xàbia in June 2022.
43- See Annex 3 for a more detailed description on cross-border cooperation.
44- The smart sensors for crowd management are part of the Turin pilot security equipment financed by PACTESUR, which also included other high-tech tools such as wi-fi and Bluetooth sensors, drones, a CCTV system and social data analytics.
74 75
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The PACTESUR Publication Series
In order to enrich the conversation on public space protection and disseminate the PACTESUR project’s insights, Efus coor dinated the Publication Series, a collection of articles, inter views and guides written by the project’s partner cities and experts on topics ranging from the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic to protecting places of worship, raising citizens’ awareness, the impact of urban planning and design in feelings of (in)security, the use of drones, and the importance of art in public spaces.
> The articles of the Publication Series are available here.
For example, as part of these direct exchanges among cities, the Series conducted a joint interview of the cities of Edin burgh and Turin on the use of drones to monitor public spaces. “The ability to learn from others who are working hard to keep people safe means ideas are shared, working methodologies can improve and we can collectively ensure the public get the best quality and value of service from local policing and authorities. Working in isolation is counter intuitive,” said the Edinburgh interviewee, Inspector Graeme Rankin of Police Scotland.
Following the conversation through Efus
Efus has been working for more than 30 years on the issue of the protection of public spaces and its position is summarised in the Security, Democracy and Cities – Co-producing urban security policies manifesto, where it recommends consider ing the various ways public spaces are used based on objec tive and subjective data, involving the public in co-producing security policies, and maintaining a healthy balance between the use of security technologies and the respect of fundamen tal rights.
In the latest edition of Efus’ regular Security, Democracy and Cities conference (October 2020, Nice, France), two work shops were organised on that issue: How can cities design and manage safer, more inclusive public spaces? and Fore sight strategies to better protect public spaces and promote urban resilience
Efus’ ongoing web conference series
Throughout the year, Efus organises regular web conferences that are open to all, which focus on key urban security topics such as the protection of public spaces in its various aspects. They gather representatives from European municipalities, academics, practitioners, law enforcement agencies, etc., and are a useful source of information and contacts.
76 77
4.3. Engaging local businesses
Another aspect that came out as crucial through PACTESUR is the need to involve local businesses in preventive measures to better protect public spaces. Indeed, they can play an important role in alerting authorities in case of an incident, and also in protecting or sheltering citizens. Local and regional authorities can raise awareness among local businesses and give them training and tools to help them stay alert to any suspicious event, or to directly help citizens in case of an attack (for example by offering shelter).
In the UK, the Home Office, the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, Pool Reinsurance Company Ltd, and Counter Terrorism Policing have jointly set up a digital platform titled Protect UK that provides businesses and members of the public with guidance, advice and online learning to tackle threats of terrorism. It encourages private businesses to strengthen their security systems and to embed security features throughout their or ganisation in order to better detect, prevent and counter terrorist threats. The fact that the platform was set up by the government illustrates a growing tendency, in the UK as in other European countries, to associate the whole of society, including private businesses, in preventing terrorism.
> More information on Protect UK here.
Another interesting initiative from the UK is the brochure published by the Association of Chief Police Officers, the National Counter Terror ism Security Office, and the business membership organisation London First to raise awareness among local businesses on the need to prepare themselves for a terrorist attack or other major incident. Titled Expect ing the unexpected, the publication mentions the fact that following the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, 40% of the businesses affected by the attack went out of business and didn’t return.
> Download the publication here.
In practice: the London SHIELD App, Metropolitan Police Service’s Protective Security Operations Command, England
The London Metropolitan Police created a mobile app for local businesses, inspired by a practice from the New York Police Department (NYPD).
The London Met app was created in 2018, a year after the London Bridge attack where terrorists rammed into pas sers-by with a van on London Bridge and stabbed people in the streets in nearby Borough Market, in central London, causing eight dead and 48 injured. During the attack, many passers-by took refuge in cafés and restaurants.
According to the Met, the app seeks to “provide security pro fessionals with a single source that enables and empowers their business to strengthen their crisis management plans, physical security and personnel counter-terrorism awareness and knowl edge.” Since the launch of the app, more than 2,000 London businesses have registered.
> More information on the London Met app here
78 79
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
In practice: Police Scotland and the management of the United Nations climate summit (COP26), Glasgow, November 2021
Through close cooperation and dialogue with local busi nesses, but also local communities and protest groups ac cording to an approach based on three main principles – engaging with the public and protesters, facilitating peaceful protests (even if unlawful), and using enforcement as a last resort –Operation Urram delivered a peaceful COP26 without any serious incident.
This is quite an achievement knowing that COP26 was, ac cording to Police Scotland, the most complex policing opera tion ever staged in Scotland and one of the largest policing operations ever organised in the UK as a whole, involving as many as 10,000 officers on some days. The 13-day confer ence attracted 40,000 delegates and some 100,000 protesters.
As Police Scotland emphasised, this success was in large part due to the intense consultations they carried out with the public and protesters before and during the event to explain the security challenges and the policing measures put in place. The fact that “facilitating peaceful protests” was one of their priorities ensured that protests were, well, peaceful rather than violent as had happened in previous United Nations COP conferences in other countries. > More information here.
80 81
