The Hungarian project came third in the European Crime Prevention Award 2018

On 05-06 December 2018 the Best Practice Conference and the European Crime Prevention Award took place in Vienna, Austria. The Hungarian project –that has been partly financed by the NCPC of Hungary- won the third place!

The theme was 'Community Policing'. Community  Policing is  an  important  method  to  increase  safety  and  security  both objectively and subjectively – This year the organizers were searching for the best initiative to build up cooperation with partners in terms of Community Policing.

The National Crime Prevention Council of Hungary nominated ‘My neighbour is the policeman!’ project that is a local government project, implemented by the Public Security Non-profit Ltd. of Zugló (ZKNP), aimed at supporting and appreciating the local police officers’ work in District 14 (Zugló) of Budapest.

The policemen have been provided with high-value infrastructural devices and distributable material containing direct contact information and photographs, which were presented in a communication campaign, as well. In the next stage, the project focused on creating a public security network with the help of Police Café, a community creative technique. The local police officers and the representatives of civil communities and professional bodies create the problem map together, and look for solutions for the unique and specific problems arising.

A primary objective of the project is to strengthen the trust in the police and demonstrate that the creation and maintenance of public security is a community task, which involves each member of the society.

University researcher and Hungarian adaptor of Police Café, Katalin Molnár, carried out a questionnaire-based impact assessment of events in Zugló.

The answers show a broadened knowledge about the security of Zugló in 84% of civilians. 87% view the police activities differently, and 89.5% think police were communicative and cooperative, open to civilian problems. The policemen opinion on civilians has also changed positively: 81% think civilians were communicative and cooperative.

With the financial support of the NCPC the ZKNP developed an ‘officer-searcher’ website that locals can use to find their district commissioner. The Police Café training and eight Police Café events were also financed from it.