UNITY

Community policing

police officers on a street scene in day light

Unity was a €4.5m project aimed at strengthening the connection between the police and the diverse communities they serve to maximise the safety and security of all citizens. Unity took a rounded approach by analysing citizens and policing perceptions of community policing in Europe. This research produced an analysis of the current and desired state of community policing to inform a new model of community policing and devised approaches to mediate citizen-police communications through mobile and online applications.

One of the key outcomes of Unity was the definition of the six pillars of community policing, namely,

Trust
Communication and information sharing
Collaboration
Addressing local needs
Accountability
Crime prevention

CENTRIC's role was to develop the citizen and police mobile applications, supporting the development of the Community Policing Architecture Framework (CPAF) and the creation of the choose-your-own-adventure game AESOP to enhance community engagement.

Funding Statement

UNITY received funding from European Commission Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement Number 653729

Further Information

Latest News

2017-12-04 - CENTRIC Director Speaks at the CEPOL Research and Science Conference in Budapest

Publications

O’Neill, M., Van Der Giessen, M., Bayerl, P. S., Hail, Y., Aston, E. and Houtsonen, J. (2023). Conditions, Actions and Purposes (CAP): A dynamic model for community policing in Europe. Policing: a Journal of Policy and Practice, 17.
van der Giessen, M., & Bayerl, P. S. (2022). Designing for successful online engagement: Understanding technological frames of citizen and police users of community policing platforms. Government Information Quarterly, 39(3), 101711.
Hancock, P., Gibson, H., & Akhgar, B. (2019). AEsOP: Applied Engagement for Community Participation. In: Serious Games for Enhancing Law Enforcement Agencies. (pp. 209-224). Springer, Cham.
Marzell, L., & Brewster, B. (2019). Building a Bedrock of Trust Between Citizens, Law Enforcement and Other Stakeholders: A Scalable Architecture for Community Policing. In: Social Media Strategy in Policing. (pp. 139-158). Springer, Cham.
Nitsch, H., Brewster, B., & Akhgar, B. (2018). Maximising the security and safety of citizens by strengthening the connection between the police and the communities they serve. European Law Enforcement Research Bulletin, (4 SCE), 147-153.