The possibility of creating a Security Coordination Center in the city was discussed in Chernihiv

On October 31, public activists, police representatives, and local authorities met at a “round table” to discuss pressing issues of ensuring security in the city of Chernihiv.

At the beginning of the event, the results of the sociological study “Safe Chernihiv” were presented, which was conducted to determine the level of trust in the police, satisfaction with their work, as well as identify pressing issues in the field of security and the role of the community in shaping security policy in the city of Chernihiv. During May-June 2018, a survey of 1,000 residents of Chernihiv was conducted using a special questionnaire.

About the main trends in assessing the opinion of Chernihiv residents regarding the activities of local police officers,

Kateryna Dankova

, head of programs of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, told.

Trust

More than half of the surveyed Chernihiv residents trust the police in general (59.4%), approximately every third (30.6%) does not trust them. Those who trust the police name the determining factors of trust as the confidence that if they contact the police, they will receive help and the appearance and friendliness of the police officers. Residents who do not trust the police indicate the certainty that if they contact the police, help will not be provided; the presence of negative experience of communication with the police by the respondent or his relative/friends/acquaintances as the determining reasons for distrust.

Feeling of safety

The majority of Chernihiv residents surveyed feel safe in the city. The majority of survey participants (63.1%) are convinced that the level of danger increases at night, with this percentage being 70.3% in Desnyanskyi district and 64.0% in Novozavodskyi. The most dangerous locations in Chernihiv were identified by respondents as individual areas of the city, abandoned buildings or structures, pedestrian crossings, highways, and nightclubs.

Urgent security issues

The respondents included in the


top five most pressing problems


:

–


drug trafficking


(sum of answers “Serious” and “Very serious” 55.8%);

–


illegal trade in alcohol and cigarettes


(44.5%);

–


parking in unauthorized places


(40.7%);

–


walking dogs in unauthorized places


(32.3%);

–


low efficiency of investigating offenses


(32.2%).

Relatively fewer respondents are concerned about the following problems:

– spontaneous trade (sum of answers “No problem” and “Insignificant” 49.5%);

– lack of patrols in the city (41.3%); – walking dogs in unauthorized places (37.6%);

– parking in unauthorized places (29.5%);

– slow police response to calls (27.9%).

Willingness to cooperate

Almost two-thirds of respondents (63.6%) are convinced that the community should help the police in ensuring public order in the city. These respondents call the three most acceptable forms of such cooperation joint patrolling, joint educational activities and joint consultation of citizens. At the same time, only a quarter (26.1%) of the total number of respondents are ready to allocate part of their free time to ensuring public order and security.

The full version of the report on the results of the sociological study “Safe Chernihiv” can be found here.

Summing up the presentation,

Kateryna Dankova

noted that the sociological study was conducted, first of all, to identify the main security issues in the community, the solutions of which need to be discussed and jointly decided with the participation of representatives of the police, local authorities and the community.

In addition, Kateryna Dankova spoke about the joint activities of public activists with the Patrol Police Department in Chernihiv region. Among them: the implementation of the Neighborhood Watch Institute, trainings with police representatives and activists and other activities aimed at identifying urgent security issues and ways to jointly solve them, establishing interaction, and exchanging experience in implementing security initiatives.

For example, in October of this year, representatives of the patrol police and a representative of the ChGKZPL visited the Odessa region, where they learned about the experience of building a safe community in the cities of Odessa and Tatarbunary. The activities of the Security Coordination Office in the small town of Tatarbunary in the Odessa region deserve special attention.

“This is a good example of well-established cooperation between the police, local authorities and the community to resolve urgent security issues. First of all, the security office serves as a discussion platform, through which it is possible to raise security issues that concern the city community,” the project manager emphasizes.

The possibility of creating a similar Security Center in the city of Chernihiv was supported by all participants in the meeting.

In particular, the head of the Patrol Police Department in Chernihiv region

Andriy Dumych

noted that the main goal of police activity is to ensure a safe life in the community, for which the most important indicator is the public’s trust in the police. Local authorities and the public should become assistants to the police in order to improve the situation with ensuring security and law and order in the city.

That is why the interaction between the police and the community on specific issues must be established. As an example, public initiative alone is not enough to solve the problem of stray animals.

Regarding the fight against the most important problem of drug addiction, it was said that the imperfection and ambiguity of the legislation prevent the police from effectively combating drug trafficking.

The head of the public order protection department of the Preventive Activities Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Chernihiv region

Andriy Vovk

supported his colleagues in that there are currently a number of unresolved security issues at the level of Chernihiv and the region.

“We constantly turn to other organizations, institutions and residents of the city for help. Therefore, in my opinion, the creation of a Security Coordination Office is a necessity for Chernihiv, so that all residents who have security issues or initiatives can contact them,” said a representative of the regional police.

The deputy of the Chernihiv City Council

Serhiy Vorobyov

also supports the dialogue between the police and the community. According to him, local deputies should also be involved in this process. But the main levers are and should be used by the patrol police, which currently does not always fully use its powers to reduce and prevent offenses.

As the deputy noted, Chernihiv has always been a relatively calm city in terms of the crime situation, but as a result of military operations in the country, the overall picture of offenses has worsened. Therefore, it is worth strengthening the interaction of the police with the community and the authorities.

The head of the NGO “Prevention Center “Vybir”

Valeriy Ryabukha

expressed the opinion that Chernihiv needs a Security Coordination Center, but it should not be under the police, but under the city mayor. After all, security in the community must be ensured not only in terms of the crime situation, but also in environmental, fire, man-made, and cyber security aspects.

In turn, the head of the department for interaction with law enforcement agencies of the Chernihiv City Council

Andriy Tkach

considers it inappropriate to create a Security Coordination Center specifically at the city council. According to him, such a center should be a neutral platform that does not belong to any particular body, but will give freedom of action and equal rights to express the opinion of every citizen.

Deputy Head of the Municipal Enterprise “Municipal Guard” of the Chernihiv City Council

Igor Dedikov

gave an example of the work of the Situation Center in the city of Vinnytsia in the field of resolving security issues, which includes, in particular, employees of the State Emergency Service, patrol and national police, municipal guard, as well as an attached call center of municipal services of the city. Thanks to such a Situation Center, it is possible to quickly respond to all problems with the security of citizens that arise in Vinnytsia.

The head of the NGO “Step to Animals”

Tetyana Didenko

emphasized that despite the priority of problems with the safety of citizens, problems with animals are also important at the community level. Therefore, issues with walking animals, with cruel treatment of them and others should be resolved together, improving the cultural awareness of citizens.

The representative of the NGO “RETRIEVAL Union of Anti-Drug Communities”

Viktoriya Danylenko

agreed that the city has a problem with illegal advertising of drug sites and the widespread distribution of drugs. At the same time, even student youth believe that the legalization of drugs can help with this. That is why it is urgent to improve joint work on prevention and combating the progressive spread of drugs.

The head of the Chernihiv Center for Social Adaptation of the Homeless and Displaced

Mykola Romanov

supported the idea of ​​creating a Security Coordination Center, which should receive messages from citizens online (thanks to modern technologies), and the police should already respond within the framework of the law. According to him, the problem of homeless women is also directly related to the problem of alcoholism and drug addiction, and all this should be solved together.

During the discussion, those present came to the conclusion that the creation of a Security Coordination Center (office) in Chernihiv could be an important step in ensuring law and order in the city.

The implementation of such an initiative should take place in close cooperation and discussion with the police, public institutions, local authorities, municipal guards and city residents.

The project “Safe Chernihiv – common interest, common responsibility” is implemented by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights with the support of the Human Rights and Justice Program of the International Renaissance Foundation.

You can read the full version of the report on the results of the sociological study “Safe Chernihiv” .