Author: Dorel Hiir, Estonian Police and Border Guard (PJP)

The Estonian Police authority had a very brief introduction to Crime Prevention through Urban Design (CP-UDP) in 2011, when we participated in a joint project with Lithuania, Latvia and Finland. Through this, we began to think more seriously about the benefits of CP-UDP.

The Estonian Police and Border Guard (PJP) is one of six Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) receiving support from the CCI project to develop a practical toolkit. Our focus is on CP-UDP.

By participating in the CCI project, we have been given the support of numerous experts, which has not only helped us increase our knowledge, but has ultimately led to the development of a toolkit that meets the Estonian Police authority’s needs.

Over two days in July (8–9 July 2020), PJP prototyped the first part of their toolkit, focusing on an interdisciplinary training programme for police officers, architects and urban planners. The goal of the training programme was two-fold. Firstly, to increase awareness of the officials with regard to the possibilities of crime prevention through urban design and, secondly, to increase cooperation between stakeholders.

In order to create an appropriate programme, it was important to get preliminary feedback on how the training programme was structured and what would need to be included. To do this, we sought feedback from police officers, architects and urban planning officials from local municipalities.

On 8 July, we convened at the Estonian Academy of Arts, one of the partners of the Estonian Police in this project. The day began with expert lectures on CP-UDP—given by an environmental psychologist, a police officer, an architect and a planner. The aim was to increase the participants’ common understanding and basic knowledge. Later in the day, participants undertook fieldwork to put what they had learnt into practice. The participants visited selected areas of the city to map CP-UDP related problems. Fieldwork was also carried out in interdisciplinary teams to foster discussion between the experts and encourage them to share their knowledge and perspectives.

On 9 July, we visited the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences' virtual simulation centre. Compared to the first day, this day involved more practical and 'hands-on' activities. The participants worked together on several case scenarios in the simulation centre and held numerous group discussions.

As this was the initial prototyping of the PJP toolkit, one of the most important parts of the second day was the feedback session. Participants provided their thoughts and ideas on how the training programme had worked from their point of view.

Prototyping has allowed us the opportunity to try out our ideas for the training programme at a very early stage, improving it exactly in the way the end-users consider most valuable.

The next steps for the Estonian Police include finalising the training programme, drafting policy guidance, and creating a process protocol that details a more systematic approach to CP-UDP for the Estonian Police and its partners. The combination of a CP-UDP training programme, policy guidance and a process protocol will ensure the toolkit has high impact on improving the knowledge of police officers and our partners, and supports our aim of reducing crime in urban spaces.