Improving Local Level Safety (CZ0021)

STATE AND DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM TO BE ADDRESSED BY MAKING THE COMMITMENT The MI has been carrying out the subsidy Crime Prevention Programme focused on supporting preventive projects of municipalities and regions which concentrate on situational prevention, social prevention, victimization prevention, and recidivism prevention for a long time. In 2015 the MI also established the subsidy programme Security Volunteer (Bezpečnostní dobrovolník) that helps to increase public integrity and develops and supports civic society by engaging local citizens in preventative activities. Crime prevention at the local level is however more difficult because there is no uniform platform providing information about criminality at the local level. MAIN OBJECTIVE Implement projects at the local level based on a careful analysis of the safety situation in the place concerned and provide access to information on criminality at the local level. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF COMMITMENT The projects, supported by the subsidy programme Crime Prevention, are based on a careful analysis of the safety situation in the place concerned, are coordinated by professional crime prevention managers, and are implemented together with other crime prevention entities in the majority of cases. The aim of creating a crime information sharing platform at the local level is to give self-governments as well as citizens of the Czech Republic access to more detailed information about criminality (crimes and offences if need be) to raise their awareness of the safety information about where they reside, work etc. so that they can engage more in the subsequent co-creation of safer localities. The task includes setting rules for sharing and publishing information about criminality (to prevent the secondary victimisation of victims, to ensure that information is accurate, objective and undistorted and cannot be misused, etc.) and protection of personal and sensitive data. Based on this it will be possible to create and give access to tools that will allow self-governments and the public share and access information, including feedback to security forces. The Security Volunteer subsidy programme for municipalities does not set exact crime prevention goals in advance but emphasises the initiative and creativity of applicants (within the specified legal framework). The programme supports the engagement of the public in ensuring public order at the local level. The purpose of the programme is to accommodate civic society initiatives and help municipalities create conditions for their citizens to volunteer, what contributes to the enhancement of life in the municipality.

4.3.2 Improving Local Level Safety

Commitment Text:

The ministry of the interior has been carrying out the subsidy Crime Prevention Programme focused on supporting preventive projects of municipalities and regions which concentrate on situational prevention, social prevention, victimization prevention, and recidivism prevention for a long time. In 2015 the ministry also established the subsidy programme Security Volunteer that helps to increase public integrity and develops and supports civic society by engaging local citizens in preventative activities. Crime prevention at the local level is however more difficult because there is no uniform platform providing information about criminality at the local level.

Main objective: Implement projects at the local level based on a careful analysis of the safety situation in the place concerned and provide access to information on criminality at the local level. The projects, supported by the subsidy programme Crime Prevention, are based on a careful analysis of the safety situation in the place concerned, are coordinated by professional crime prevention managers, and are implemented together with other crime prevention entities in the majority of cases. The aim of creating a crime information sharing platform at the local level is to give self-governments as well as citizens of the Czech Republic access to more detailed information about criminality (crimes and offences if need be) to raise their awareness of the safety information about where they reside, work etc. so that they can engage more in the subsequent co-creation of safer localities. The task includes setting rules for sharing and publishing information about criminality (to prevent the secondary victimisation of victims, to ensure that information is accurate, objective and undistorted and cannot be misused, etc.) and protection of personal and sensitive data. Based on this it will be possible to create and give access to tools that will allow self-governments and the public share and access information, including feedback to security forces.

The aim of the commitment is better knowledge of self-governments and citizens of criminality and related phenomena and their better engagement and cooperation with the security forces not only in reducing hidden criminality but also in finding particular offenders and generally in preventing criminality and improving the safety of the community concerned. Better engagement and cooperation should also result in the long-term development of safety and crime prevention voluntary activities.

Milestones:

1. Determination of rules for sharing and publishing information about criminality so that it does not contribute to the secondary victimization of victims.

2. Possibility of concluding contracts for sharing information about criminality with self-governments according to the set rules

3. Putting a crime information publishing platform into operation

4. Executing subsidy safety and crime prevention procedures

Responsible institution: Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic

Supporting institution(s): N/A

Start date: 30 June 2016 End date: 31 December 2018

Context and Objectives

The commitment addresses local crime prevention through state-subsidized projects and access to crime statistics via a central online platform. Unlike many other countries, the Czech Republic does not have a detailed, user-friendly crime map centrally managed by state bodies and accessible to the public. However, the Czech policeforce manages aggregated crime statistics on its online portal.[Note129: Police of Czech Republic, 'Statistiky trestne cinnosti' (13 Sept. 2012), http://www.policie.cz/clanek/statistiky-trestne-cinnosti.aspx.]

While police data used to be dispersed across 86 different Excel tables, the police consolidated the data in one database in 2016.[Note130: Otevrena spolecnost, 'About the project,' http://www.mapakriminality.cz/o-aplikaci/#oAplikaciUzivatele.] Otevrena Spolecnost, an NGO, uses this data for its crime index and map.[Note131: Id.] Local crime maps exist in several smaller cities where the Police of the Czech Republic and metropolitan police provide input to official municipal crime maps available on local government websites.[Note132: Safe Pribram, 'Mapy kriminality a prestupku' (2017), http://www.bezpecnapribram.cz/218-mapy-kriminality; Safe Kolin, 'Mapy kriminality a vyvoj kriminality ve meste Kolin' (Jul. 2018), http://www.bezpecnykolin.cz/mapy-kriminality.] However, access to crime information has been contested in the country. The Ministry of the Interior and the police were in civil litigation with the journalist, Jan Cibulka, from Czech Radio over access to crime information. In May 2017, the Municipal Court in Prague ruled in favor of the journalist and ordered the Police of the Czech Republic and Ministry of Interior to release data on territorial distribution of police districts and stations in an electronic version.[Note133: Jan Cibulka, 'Vymluva na autorsky zakon neobstala, policie musi zverejnit mapu policejnich okrsku' (iRozhlas, 18 May 2017), https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-domov/vymluva-na-autorsky-zakon-neobstala-policie-musi-zverejnit-mapu-policejnich_1705180725_cib.] It is an important dataset for achieving accurate crime maps. Consequently, the Ministry of the Interior calculated the cost of providing the requested data at CZK 25 million (EUR 1 million).[Note134: Dominika Pihova, 'Vnitro potvrdilo castku 25 milionu za data o kriminalite. Spor se zrejme potahne roky,' (iRozhlas, 11 Oct. 2016), https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-z-domova/vnitro-potvrdilo-castku-25-milionu-za-data-o-kriminalite-spor-se-zrejme-potahne_1610111053_dp.] The amount was challenged by the journalist and litigation is ongoing.

The objective of the commitment is to launch a unified online platform providing crime information via 'Maps of the Future II.' The project should provide an assessment of what data and information on crimes the police can provide for the new platform and set the rules, including contractual relations with municipalities and local administrative bodies, for sharing and publishing the respective data. A civil servant responsible for the project mentioned that a new information system should be user-friendly for the public and local administrations to encourage feedback and co-creation of the map. At the same time, there is a lack of information on the activities carried out by the Police of the Czech Republic (the administrator of the input data), the Ministry of the Interior, as well as the specific parameters of the map and its statistics. A civil society representative points out there is no guarantee that such a map would contain more than basic statistics. Furthermore, the 'value add' to the existing Otevrena Spolecnost project is unclear and there is no cooperation with the civil society sector on how to synergize and complement the two platforms.

The second objective of the commitment is to support crime prevention via three grant programmes. Two of these programs fund local administration bodies, municipalities, and regional administrations for local crime prevention and volunteer security forces. The third program funds corruption prevention implemented by CSOs and other nonprofit entities (i.e., foundations, churches). Projects funded from the first two grants support preventive measures but can also facilitate dialogue between citizens and local and regional administration bodies and municipalities. However, the Ministry of the Interior neither requires public consultations during the project's implementation, nor are citizen consultations part of the needs assessment for the grant application. The corruption prevention projects[Note135: The list of beneficiaries can be found here: http://www.mvcr.cz/clanek/prehled-zadosti-o-podporu-z-dotacniho-programu-prevence-korupcniho-jednani-v-roce-2016.aspx.] often provide legal consultation for potential whistleblowers and aim to motivate citizens in anticorruption efforts. The government has actively conducted these projects with the Ministry of the Interior acting as a donor, however the projects are neither linked to OGP priorities nor bear relevance to OGP values within Milestone 4 without a stronger government role. For these reasons, the commitment´s potential impact is considered minor. In addition, the commitment and milestones do not contain specific benchmarks but rather general indicators that cannot be checked against the performance; for this reason the commitment has low specificity.

Completion

Completion of this commitment is limited. Milestones 1, 2, and 3 were postponed due to a delay in preparations for 'Maps of the Future II.' The Ministry of the Interior cooperates on preparations for the Maps of the Future II project proposal with the Police of the Czech Republic. The police requested a budgetary transfer to cover the personnel costs for employees working on the project. Due to this reason, 'Maps of the Future II' will not start earlier than the beginning of 2018. The first three milestones' end dates shifted to September 2018, December 2018, and December 2019 respectively. Under Milestone 4, all three subsidy programs were implemented on time and the list of beneficiaries for 2016 and 2017 is available online.[Note136: The list of beneficiaries of the programme on criminality prevention at local level can be found here: http://www.mvcr.cz/clanek/vysledky-programu-prevence-kriminality-na-mistni-urovni-na-rok-2017.aspx. The list of beneficiaries of the Security Volunteer programme can be found here: http://www.mvcr.cz/clanek/bezpecnostni-dobrovolnik.aspx. The list of beneficiaries of the corruption prevention programme can be found here: http://www.mvcr.cz/clanek/dotacni-program-prevence-korupcniho-jednani.aspx.]

Next Steps

The unified online platform providing information on crime statistics could be carried forward in the next action plan, however, only if the following recommendations are taken on board:

· Consult and include civil society in the preparation and implementation of the platform within 'Maps of the Future II;'

· Clearly state what criteria and datasets should be published; and

· Complement the existing Otevrena map and discuss synergies of the two platforms.

4.3.2. Improving Local Level Safety

Commitment Text:

The MI has been carrying out the subsidy Crime Prevention Programme focused on supporting preventive projects of municipalities and regions which concentrate on situational prevention, social prevention, victimization prevention, and recidivism prevention for a long time. In 2015 the MI also established the subsidy programme Security Volunteer that helps to increase public integrity and develops and supports civic society by engaging local citizens in preventative activities. Crime prevention at the local level is however more difficult because there is no uniform platform providing information about criminality at the local level.

Main objective: Implement projects at the local level based on a careful analysis of the safety situation in the place concerned and provide access to information on criminality at the local level.

Brief description of the commitment:

The projects, supported by the subsidy programme Crime Prevention, are based on a careful analysis of the safety situation in the place concerned, are coordinated by professional crime prevention managers, and are implemented together with other crime prevention entities in the majority of cases. The aim of creating a crime information sharing platform at the local level is to give self-governments as well as citizens of the Czech Republic access to more detailed information about criminality (crimes and offences if need be) to raise their awareness of the safety information about where they reside, work etc. so that they can engage more in the subsequent co-creation of safer localities. The task includes setting rules for sharing and publishing information about criminality (to prevent the secondary victimisation of victims, to ensure that information is accurate, objective and undistorted and cannot be misused, etc.) and protection of personal and sensitive data. Based on this it will be possible to create and give access to tools that will allow self-governments and the public share and access information, including feedback to security forces.

The Security Volunteer subsidy programme for municipalities does not set exact crime prevention goals in advance but emphasises the initiative and creativity of applicants (within the specified legal framework). The programme supports the engagement of the public in ensuring public order at the local level. The purpose of the programme is to accommodate civic society initiatives and help municipalities create conditions for their citizens to volunteer, what contributes to the enhancement of life in the municipality

Milestones:

1. Determination of rules for sharing and publishing information about criminality so that it does not contribute to the secondary victimization of victims.
2. Possibility of concluding contracts for sharing information about criminality with self-governments according to the set rules
3. Putting a crime information publishing platform into operation
4. Executing subsidy safety and crime prevention procedures

Responsible institution: Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic

Supporting institution(s): N/A

Start date: 30 June 2016                                                           End date: 31 December 2018

Commitment Aim:

The objective of this commitment was to launch a unified online platform providing crime information through the Ministry of Interior’s “Maps of the Future II” project. The project would assess what data and information on crimes the police can provide for the new platform and set the rules for sharing and publishing the respective data. This commitment also planned to support crime prevention via three grant programs. Two of these programs fund local administration bodies, municipalities, and regional administrations for local crime prevention and volunteer security forces. The third program funds corruption prevention implemented by CSOs and other nonprofits (such as foundations and churches).  

Status

Midterm: Limited

Completion of this commitment was limited at the midterm. A delay in preparations for the Maps of the Future II project postponed milestones 1, 2, and 3. The Ministry of the Interior cooperated on preparations for the project proposal with the Police of the Czech Republic. The police requested a budgetary transfer to cover the personnel costs for employees working on the project. The Ministry of the Interior implemented all three of the subsidy programs covered under milestone 4 with the list of beneficiaries for 2016 and 2017 available online.

End of term: Limited

The timeline of the implementation of the Maps of the Future II project has been delayed. According to the official originally responsible for the implementation of the project, the Ministry of the Interior has not yet announced if the Ministry itself or the Police of the Czech Republic will be responsible for the implementation, and thus also on budgetary transfers. The grant programs listed in the commitment are ongoing and new beneficiaries were selected in 2018 in line with the planned schedule. The list of beneficiaries is available online. [27]

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Did Not Change

Unlike many other countries, the Czech Republic did not have a detailed, user-friendly crime map centrally managed by state bodies and accessible to the public. An initiative of civil society resulted in the first comprehensive online crime map; Otevrena Spolecnost, an NGO working in civic space issues, uses the consolidated data provided by the police in one database as of 2016 for its crime map. [28] Local crime maps exist in several smaller cities where the Police of the Czech Republic and metropolitan police provide input to official municipal crime maps available on local government websites. [29] However, access to crime information has been a contentious issue in the country. The Ministry of the Interior and the police were in civil litigation with the journalist Jan Cibulka from Czech Radio, over access to crime information. In May 2017, the Municipal Court in Prague ruled in favor of the journalist and ordered the Police of the Czech Republic and Ministry of Interior to release data on territorial distribution of police districts and stations in an electronic version. ^[30] Consequently, the Ministry of the Interior calculated the cost of providing the requested data at CZK 25 million (EUR 1 million). ^[31] The amount was challenged by the journalist and the litigation is ongoing.

Given the delays in the Maps of the Future II project, this commitment has not changed government practice. It remains to be seen what type of interactive map will be created by the state bodies responsible for the project implementation, or if civil society will be involved in the preparation and implementation of the new platform. Civil society representatives [32] interviewed for this report suggested that if the preparation of the map stays only with the ministry and Police of the Czech Republic, the added value to the existing tools will be limited. According to the government’s end-of-term self-assessment, the timeline for implementation of the project moved to 2019 and 2020.

Carried Forward?

This commitment is not carried over to the next action plan.

[27] Ministry of the Interior, https://www.mvcr.cz/clanek/prevence-korupcniho-jednani-dotace-pro-rok-2018.aspx; https://www.mvcr.cz/clanek/bezpecnostni-dobrovolnik.aspx; https://www.mvcr.cz/clanek/vysledky-programu-prevence-kriminality-na-mistni-urovni-na-rok-2018.aspx

^[28] Otevrena spolecnost, “About the project”, http://www.mapakriminality.cz/o-aplikaci/#oAplikaciUzivatele

^[1] Safe Pribram, “Mapy kriminality a prestupku” (2017), http://www.bezpecnapribram.cz/218-mapy-kriminality; Safe Kolin, "Mapy kriminality a vyvoj kriminality ve meste Kolin" (July 2018), http://www.bezpecnykolin.cz/mapy-kriminality

^[30] Jan Cibulka, “Vymluva na autorsky zakon neobstala, policie musi zverejnit mapu policejnich okrsku” (iRozhlas, 18 May 2017), https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-domov/vymluva-na-autorsky-zakon-neobstala-policie-musi-zverejnit-mapu-policejnich_1705180725_cib

^[31] Dominika Pihova, “Vnitro potvrdilo castku 25 milionu za data o kriminalite. Spor se zrejme potahne roky,” (iRozhlas, 11 October 2016), https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-z-domova/vnitro-potvrdilo-castku-25-milionu-za-data-o-kriminalite-spor-se-zrejme-potahne_1610111053_dp

[32] The representative of Otevrena Spolecnost, and data journalist from Cesky Rozhlas (Czech Radio public broadcaster)