From 5 to 6 October, UIC was pleased to host the 7th International Conference on the Observation, Analysis and Prevention of Insecurity  in Paris, at UIC HQ, and which focused on the theme of  Security in Mobility. 

The conference was held by the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC) in collaboration with the International Union of Railways (UIC), the French Ministry of Transport,  the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), the Union of Public Transports (UTP), Safe.brussels, the Institute of Higher Studies of the Ministry of the Interior (INHEMI), the government of Quebec and the government of Canada. 

The conference was followed by more than 180 participants from 90 organisations all over the world, among them representatives from authorities, rail companies, public transport operators, research centres, transport associations and international organisations.

This 2-day conference included plenary sessions, workshops, site tours, on-site demonstrations, and networking events.

This event aimed:

• to provide a space for exchanges between experts in crime observation, crime analysis, security and key actors in the field of mobility and public transport and
• to identify avenues for innovation, action, knowledge transfer, and applied research in the field of secure mobility, as well as opportunities for partnerships between these. 

The main themes addressed focused on:

• analysis of crime and security in mobility,
• the impact of COVID-19 on security,
• security governance: management and public policy.

Several parallels workshops were held on:

• the feeling of insecurity,
• public transit harassment,
• preparedness and crisis management in the face of the terrorist threat,
• verbal abuse and aggression against staff,
• fare evasion,
• technological prevention tools for crisis management,
• social prevention of violence and incivilities,
• situational prevention and the CPTED (Crime prevention through environmental design) approach in mobilities,
• sharing experiences on current crisis situations.

Participants then had the opportunity to choose between five different visits and demonstrations:

• Two demonstrations of the K9 team and another one on the techniques of intervention by SNCF,
• Harassment Awareness, Stand UP Project Presentation by RATP,
• Visit of the security devices and the security headquarters (Gare de Lyon metro station) by RATP, and
• Presentation of a social gathering bus by RATP.

During the closing session, six main challenges addressed during these two days were highlighted:

• Rail and public transport is a daily living space. To support sustainable development there is a need to shift from individual to collective transport. This cannot be achieved if there is no security on transport. This adds to the scale of the challenge!
• To boost the attractiveness and efficiency of rail as a mode of transport, security policies should consider both the objective security, e.g., video protection, security staff, and the feeling of security more related to e.g., cleanliness, visibility, a pleasant atmosphere.
• A technological shift is happening with more and more video protection and the use of artificial intelligence
• Sharing of responsibilities and integration of terrorism prevention measures into any general prevention strategy is also a challenge for the transport operators.
• Effectiveness of the security measures relies on a solid governance structure: need to establish partnerships, importance of ensuring a human presence, and also the crucial alignment between police forces, transport operators, and social stakeholders.
• Fundamental rights issues are part of the approach to all these challenges
  • There was a lot of talk about the need for a differentiated approach according to demographic groups with a focus on women: this is a human rights issue. A differentiated approach may include at-risk profiles, strategic interventions in some places rather than others, and therefore carries a risk of discrimination: there is a real need to balance the two.
  • Technology for security and mobility also raises issues of privacy protection.
  • Sharing of personal data between the stakeholders involved in the security chain has also repercussions on the protection of privacy.

The conference was very fruitful with the participation of 60 speakers with an impressive level of expertise, many exchanges at international level which have made it possible to learn on best practices and to further reflect on the progress that can be done in the field of security of mobility.

The conference proceedings will be produced in the coming weeks, and will be available on the CIPC website at https://cipc-icpc.org/en/save-the-date-international-conference-october-4-6-2022/.