Crime Prevention Assistant in the town of Decin - a fresh alternative to community policing

The project introduces a fresh alternative approach to already existing practices of community policing strategies. Its main objective is to help citizens in socially excluded communities with intense social and security problems to become actively involved in their immediate social environment.

The project starts with a specifically designed selection process through which several individuals in each project location are chosen to work as 2-member teams of crime prevention assistants. the selection committee consists of the representatives of the municipal and state police, respective city council and the ministry of the interior. These CP assistant teams work together with the municipal police officers to help maintaining public order and security in respective locations. The civic and moral authority of CP assistant teams proves to be a very effective help for state and municipal police, particularly when solving long-term and enduring local issues.

After completing an initial practical training, CP assistants may perform tasks belonging to patrol officers. If there is a low-risk and low-intensity violation of public order in the location assigned to them, CP assistants are allowed to settle the matter themselves or, if needed, to ask municipal police for assistance. CP assistants also collaborate with local NGOs therefore they are actively involved in coordination and implementation of leisure time activities designed for potentially problematic groups (particularly adolescents and youth up to 20 years of age).

The project started in 2011 and is still running.
Last review: January 2020