European Crime Prevention Award and Best Practice Conference 2020

The European Crime Prevention Award (ECPA) and Best Practice Conference (BPC) will take place online on 3 and 4 December 2020. The theme is family-based crime.

You can download the programme of the Best Practice Conference below. If you would like to attend the BPC, please send an email to the EUCPN Secretariat (registration is open).

The theme of the German Presidency

The German Presidency of the EUCPN will focus on family-based crime. The ECPA focuses on groups whose members are related by family or family-like relations (such as clans). Younger family members are socialised in a criminal, often violent environment. It is very difficult for law enforcement, but also for prevention initiatives to penetrate these groups. The German ECPA topic is about reaching out to such groups in order to break this cycle. Possible entries are measures starting at an earlier point in a person’s biography to interrupt the criminal pathways of young people. This may include sports and cultural activities or improving the perception of alternative ways of life (e.g. mandatory participation in preschool, assistance in school, vocational training and higher education) among affected groups. Additional information

Interested in participating?

Participation in the ECPA is open to any project, initiative or package of measures. An objective of the project must be to reduce crime and the fear of crime within the specified theme. Entries can originate from, for example: local authorities, the police, educational institutions, community groups, sports clubs, youth organisations, business community, probation service, neighbourhood watch schemes, parish councils, public transport operators, voluntary organisations/groups etc. The persons entering the projects do not need to have participated in the projects themselves. It is entirely possible that the initiative of a third party is brought to the attention of the jury. Each participating country may enter one project for consideration under the European Crime Prevention Award scheme. It is up to each participating country to decide how to select projects for consideration under the scheme. There are some binding criteria:

•     The project shall focus on prevention and/or reduction of everyday crime and fear of crime within the specified theme
•     The project shall have been evaluated and have achieved most or all of its objectives
•     The project shall, as far as possible, be innovative, involving new methods or new approaches
•     The project shall be based on co-operation between partners, where possible
•     The project shall be capable of replication by organisations and groups in other Member States

This year's topic is family-based organised crime. Entries for the European Crime Prevention Award should be submitted through the National Representative of each Member State to the Secretariat. Due to Covid19 the deadline is extended until 9 October 2020. Please be aware that different (shorter) deadlines can apply within individual Member States. Please contact the National Representative of your Member State for further details. For any other information, please go to https://eucpn.org/service/bpc-ecpa & https://eucpn.org/document/ecpa-documents-2020 or contact the EUCPN Secretariat.