April 2025 – The North Rhine-Westphalia Crime Prevention Council, which is part of the Ministry of Justice of this German Lander, joined the European Forum for Urban Security (Efus) and the German Forum for Urban Security (DEFUS) in early 2025. We met with its Managing Director, Julian Pritsch.
What benefits do you expect from having joined the European Forum for Urban Security?
Julian Pritsch: We joined Efus/DEFUS to benefit from the work being carried out on a large range of topics by this Europe-wide network. We are particularly interested in exchanging information and experience on security issues at national and international level in order to exploit synergy effects and share knowledge. We would also like to learn more about the needs of other local authorities in order to refine our own offering. We are also keen to use DEFUS’ Europe-wide contacts to get to know local players and visit relevant projects.
“We joined Efus and DEFUS to exchange information and experience on security issues at national and international level and learn more about the needs of other local authorities.”
What is your top priority in terms of crime prevention right now?
A key challenge for us is to persuade local authorities in our territory to locally establish the Communities That Care crime prevention strategy. [Note from Efus: the Communities That Care (CTC) approach is based on involving local stakeholders, including schools and local communities, to prevent problematic behaviour in young people, such as substance abuse, violence and delinquency. This approach was first developed in the 1990s in the United States and has since been widely adopted across Europe].
What specific projects are you working on that are worth sharing with other Efus members?
I would mention two initiatives. The first one is that we are planning to organise first aid courses for young offenders in youth detention centres with the aim of promoting social responsibility and life-saving skills. They often have a troubled past and face the challenge of successfully integrating into society after their release. First aid courses could not only teach them practical skills, but also boost their self-esteem and a sense of responsibility.
The second one is that we would like to raise awareness on prevention as an efficient approach to combat crime in North Rhine-Westphalia’s colleges and universities’ courses on pedagogy and social sciences. In partnership with these institutions, we would like to present the various subject areas, contents, methods, institutions and partners in the field of crime prevention and discuss them with students and teachers.
> More information on the website of the North Rhine-Westphalia Crime Prevention Council
> The German Forum for Urban Security (DEFUS)
> photo at the top: a view of Cologne, the main city in North Rhine-Westphalia – ©iStock – jotily
