Integrating Technology and Community Engagement: A Four Step Process for Addressing Public Space Issues

• In Event: The digitalisation of police work and its consequences for citizens

Abstract

In recent decades, the utilization of digital technologies by law enforcement agencies has gained significant prominence. The implementation of digital tools is progressively transforming policing practices, and the application of big data and the enhanced capabilities of police forces to manage these data may lead to more effective and efficient policing methods. However, unintended consequences may also arise, such as a more decontextualized approach to policing society, as a result of police officers becoming increasingly detached from local communities. These adverse outcomes have the potential to impair the police's ability to resolve community issues and initiate a regressive shift in policing, transitioning from a citizen-oriented approach to a more state-controlled model.
At the Criminological Research Unit of the State Office for Criminal Investigations of North Rhine-Westphalia, we have developed a standardized process for addressing community-related problems in public spaces that integrates both the utilization of digital tools and a community-oriented policing approach (MIKUS). This approach involves four steps: 1. Localizing the relevant issues by using quantitative and qualitative methods to gain a place-based and problem-oriented understanding of the potential causes, relations, and micro-scale boundaries of the crime or fear of crime problem. 2. Identifying relevant stakeholders from the police, municipality, and other user groups, such as citizens, to address the issues. 3. Gaining insights with all relevant actors by conducting a site visit of the problematic location, and 4. Identifying potential beneficial measures and defining responsibilities of the different groups of actors. This process exemplifies our understanding of a holistic approach to policing, which leverages the positive aspects of digitalization while mitigating its potential negative outcomes.
This presentation will show the development of the previously mentioned process and discuss the empirical results obtained from its implementation across different police departments and contextual settings in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Authors

• Kai Seidensticker, Criminological Research Unit (State Crime Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)

• Isabel Krause, State Office of Criminal Investigation North Rhine-Westphalia