Press release
Matosinhos, 17 March 2016
Locally elected representative members of Efus call for a police service close to and at the service of citizens
The members of Efus’ executive committee, assembled in Matosinhos (Portugal) on Thursday 17th March, adopted a resolution for a police service close to and at the service of citizens, as they maintain that “the police should be considered as an important actor in the prevention chain”.
The resolution emphasises that “cities should play an intermediary role in strengthening police-population relations”; thus the representatives declared that local authorities must be involved in the implementation of a dialogue with the population about the police’s priority actions.
Concerned about the many issues caused by the current climate of social tension in Europe, the representatives highlighted the importance of developing a police force that serves all citizens.
They demanded that the principles of accessibility, visibility, representativeness, transparency and subsidiarity, pertaining to the forces of order, be upheld and respected. They also called for the implementation of partnership-led approaches between different institutions and the development of indicators and tools for assessing the progression of police-population relations.
Finally, they reiterated that the police force is just one of many community stakeholders working to further social cohesion, underlining that citizens should not consider them as the sole party responsible for public security.
Read the full resolution
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Contact
Elsa Fontanille
Communications Manager
fontanille@efus.eu – + 33 1 40 64 49 00
