Nice, France, March 2019 – The partners of the PACTESUR (Protecting Allied Cities Against Terrorism by Securing Urban Areas) European project, which is led by the City of Nice (FR) had their kickoff meeting on 28 March.
Fostering the exchange of experiences
The PACTESUR partners will exchange their experiences and reflections on four themes: the study of standards, legal frames and local governance; the development of specialised training for local security operators; raising awareness among citizens and politicians on their role in crime prevention and security; and lastly the identification of the most adapted investments for making public spaces that are open and touristic more secure without “bunkerizing” them.
“PACTESUR is an occasion for us to exchange with other cities on the training of police officers, on the type of security programmes that can be implemented and on how to inform the public,” said Efus President, Willy Demeyer, in his opening statement.
Efus in charge of coordinating 11 cities and the expert committee
Efus is in charge of coordinating the activities to be carried out by the 11 associate cities and the expert committee, which gathers some 15 members each specialised in a particular area relevant to the security of public spaces.
Three activities will be organised each year for three years: an annual working meeting with all the members of the group of associate cities and the expert committee; workshops on local governance; and field visits to the partner cities during the European Week of Security.
PACTESUR’s next meeting will be the first of the three annual meetings and will be held in July in one of the project’s partner cities. The two main themes of the session will be how to exchange information with police, whether national or local, and how to communicate with citizens.
The project consortium
The PACTESUR project is led by the city of Nice. The consortium includes the city of Liège (Belgium), the city of Turin (Italy), the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI) Piemonte (Italy), the European Forum for Urban Security (Efus) and the Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur.
Efus is leading a working group of 11 European cities (Athens, Edinburgh, Essen, Gdańsk, Leeds, Lisboa, London, Madrid, Munich, Riga, Xàbia) that have specific issues and knowledge on the protection of urban public spaces, as well as the Expert Advisory Committee (EAC), a group of 14 specialists from various fields who are working on how to design safe, open and accessible public spaces.
