Chernihiv condominium associations and police join forces for community safety

On April 24, a working meeting of representatives of the Chernihiv OSBB with local police officers took place within the framework of the Neighborhood Watch initiative.

The event was attended by the heads of the OSBB (association of co-owners of an apartment building) and ZhBK (housing and construction cooperatives) of the city, representatives of the Chernihiv City Department, the Patrol Police Department and the Human Rights Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Chernihiv Region.

The main topic of the event was a discussion of current problems in the field of ensuring public safety and improvement in the city, as well as the development of joint initiatives of representatives of self-organization bodies of the population and the police within the framework of the implementation of the Neighborhood Watch institute in Chernihiv.

The city municipality supports this initiative and is ready to join the relevant measures. This was emphasized by the Deputy Mayor of Chernihiv, Serhiy Fesenko, opening the event. The official noted that in November 2016, the city council created the municipal enterprise “Municipal Guard”, whose tasks include monitoring the improvement of the city, environmental safety and implementing measures to prevent and stop administrative offenses in the city. That is why the city authorities are fully interested in establishing interaction with the police and the community in this area.

Kateryna Dankova, Program Manager of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, and Inna Paseka, Public Relations Inspector of the Patrol Police Department of the Chernihiv Region, presented to those present the main principles of the “Neighborhood Guard” program and the experience of implementing the initiative in other Ukrainian communities.

“Within the framework of this project, we will be able to conduct explanatory work with the population so that they more clearly understand the actions of the patrol police, investigators and precinct officers. Thus, we will be able to reduce the number of areas where there is a danger of committing offenses, and we will make it impossible for people who are going to commit offenses to act. It is very important to establish communication between people and the police,” said Inna Paseka.

“In the house where I am the head of the condominium association, an apartment was recently robbed. I would not like such cases to be repeated. For our part, we will connect and help you. In order for our city to be safer,” said Volodymyr Sergiyenko, head of one of the condominium associations.

“It is often difficult to solve a crime because there is nothing to touch, there are no signs of the offenders, and the neighbors do not want to say anything. It is necessary to prevent offenses, work ahead of time, and prevent crimes,” police representatives are convinced.

Whether to put the police at every entrance or still take responsibility, cooperating with law enforcement officers in all directions, is a choice that every resident must make. This is precisely the leitmotif of the “Neighborhood Watch”.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the main problems that the population most often faces and the direction of further cooperation. In the future, it is planned to create a joint chat with the heads of the OSMB, the OZHBK, and the police.

The event was organized by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights in cooperation with the Patrol Police Department of the Chernihiv Region as part of the implementation of the project “Safe Chernihiv – a common interest, a common responsibility” with the support of the Program Initiative “Human Rights and Justice” of the International Renaissance Foundation.