KOBAN – Identifying future capabilities for community policing
Strong relationships between citizens and police are crucial for fostering community trust, ensuring public security. Efus believes that local and regional police should be close to citizens and follow a doctrine based on proximity in terms of method and of the quality of the service provided to the population. In this context, European cooperation in community policing is essential to building safer and more connected communities in cities across Europe.
The KOBAN project was developed in response to Europe’s rapidly shifting social, economic, cultural, and political landscape, alongside the rise of digital environments and virtual communities. It addresses the growing challenge for law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to build trustworthy relationships with communities both online and offline.
The KOBAN project aims at:
- Create an innovative, research and practice-based Community Policing (CP) initiative, adopting an evidenced-based approach.
- Foster mutual trust and respect, enhancing community security.
- Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of policing, especially for hard-to-reach communities.
The consortium is led by the Netherlands Police. It brings together 17 partners: PPHS (Polish Platform for Internal Security), TNO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek), Ianus technologies, Saher, CERTH (Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas), Vicomtech, TLX (Timelex), FIMOI (Ministry of Interior of Finland), KWPR (Provincial police of Radom), PLV (City of Valencia), CML (City of Lisbon), ISP Qualify Just – IT solution and consulting LDA), EUR (Erasmus University of Rotterdam), CP (Czech Police), POLBRU (Brussels Police) and Efus.
Associated partners
- CENTRIC (Sheffield Hallam University), Research Centre, UK: in charge of developing the App Factory and the AI Assistant
- UK Home Office, National government. Will contribute to multiple area’s of expertise together with CENTRIC
The KOBAN project activities are:
- KOBAN Capability Model: Research existing tools, models, and practices; identify gaps and future needs for community policing.
- KOBAN App Factory and AI Assistant: Develop customised applications and AI tools for early threat detection and citizen support, enhancing intelligence for LEAs.
- KOBAN in Action: Implement six pilots to test and refine CP capabilities in Utrecht (NL), Lisbon (PT), Radom (PL), Valencia (ES), Brussels (BE) and Savonlinna (FL).
KOBAN Training Programme: Offer a modular, interactive training program using digital and virtual methods for effective learning.
Efus will contribute to the project by defining and preparing the KOBAN pilots, especially the pilot with local police-PolBru, which includes engaging citizens, training all involved stakeholders, and designing a comprehensive evaluation framework. Efus will also be involved in testing and validating KOBAN solutions in pilot areas, establishing a feedback loop for continuous improvement. Additionally, Efus will play a central role in evaluating and developing an implementation framework for the KOBAN Community Policing Programme, and will help define policy recommendations to guide sustainable, effective community policing practices across Europe.
September 2024 – August 2027
Marta Pellón Brussossa – Senior Programme Manager – pellonbrussosa@efus.eu
Anne Boisseau – Programme Manager – boisseau@efus.eu
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission (EC). Neither the European Union nor the EC can be held responsible for them.
