From June 12 to 13, 2023, Ann Champoux, Director General of the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC), was in Mannheim, Germany, to take part in the 28th German Prevention Congress, which this year focused on crisis management and prevention. Among the nearly 2,000 participants, Ms. Champoux had the opportunity to meet with guests of honor, including community stakeholders, international organizations, and governments. The ICPC was able to represent Quebec and Canada at the conference, highlighting its work through a video broadcast on the conference platform. In this video, ICPC analyst Janny Montinat illustrates the research work carried out on one of our reports published in 2022, which focused on the “Glorification of firearms on social media and prevention best practices: an overview”. During the event, Ann Champoux took part in various conferences and workshops covering topics such as women’s leadership in urban safety, managing feelings of insecurity, community policing planning, co-constructing safer neighborhoods, anticipating safety threats in public spaces and surveillance to achieve global safety and prevention goals. The two days spent in Germany gave the ICPC the opportunity to make some valuable meetings. Ann Champoux met with Dr. Burkhard Hasenpusch, a former ICPC collaborator, an expert in many crime-related fields, and a great expert on the current situation in Germany. Among our members, we were able to strengthen our partnerships with important contacts such as Johannes de Haan, Head of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Justice Section, UNODC, Jumma Assiago, Global Coordinator of UN-Habitat’s Safer Cities Program, Elizabeth Johnston, Executive Director of EFUS, Felix Munger, Executive Director of the Canadian Municipal Crime Prevention Network, Erich Marks, Executive Director of the German Foundation for Crime Prevention and Offender Support (DVS) and of the German Crime Prevention Congress, and former member of the ICPC Executive Committee, as well as representatives of Safe.brussels.

A very interesting meeting was also held with Dr. John Rook during his conference on the criminalization of poverty. Dr. Rook is a renowned expert in this field, founder and Director of the Canadian Poverty Institute at Ambrose University in Alberta, as well as President and CEO of the Simon House Recovery Center in Calgary. Their discussion helped deepen our knowledge about the social reintegration of ex-offenders and explore partnership opportunities between the ICPC and Alberta organizations.

We would like to thank the 28th German Prevention Congress and all our partners for the very positive exchanges that took place over the two days.