Proceedings of the 7th International Conference of the ICPC on the security of mobility: a review of the paths of action, innovation and prevention

From October 4 to 6, 2022, the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime organized the 7th International Conference on Observation, Analysis and Prevention of Insecurity, in collaboration with the French Ministry of Transport, the International Union of Railways, the International Association of Public Transport, the Union of Public Transports, Safe.brussels, the Institute of Higher Studies of the Ministry of the Interior, the government of Quebec and the government of Canada. The event took place at the headquarters of the International Union of Railways in Paris.

The main theme of the conference was Security in Mobility. Through a collaboration with French, Belgian, and Canadian partners, the event succeeded in presenting various approaches and raising awareness on multiple issues surrounding safety and insecurity in mobility. This conference revealed the importance of the risks and challenges faced by public transport, which is part of our daily lives.

The conference included several workshops addressing a wide range of topics related to safety and insecurity in mobility. These topics included the feeling of insecurity, public transit harassment, crisis management in the face of the terrorist threat, verbal abuse and aggression against staff, fare evasion, crisis management, and technological prevention tools, social prevention of violence and incivilities, crisis management: sharing experiences on current crisis situations, and situational prevention and the CPTED approach in mobility. 

These proceedings are a complete synthesis of all the information shared during the activities, as well as the exchanges between the different speakers and the participants. They are now available for consultation.

The main points to remember are as follows:

  1. The issue of harassment on public transport is a major problem, particularly detrimental to women.
  2. Crime does not occur randomly; it is influenced by circumstances and factors that facilitate criminal opportunities and acts of delinquency.
  3. There is a paradoxical cohabitation between individuals in great precariousness and users who pay for a service and naturally expect a certain level of quality.

You can access the proceedings by clicking on the corresponding links:

English version

French version

Spanish version

The ICPC in France for its 7th international conference

On October 5 and 6, 2022, the 7th International Conference on Observation, Analysis and Prevention of Insecurity, organized by the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime, in collaboration with the French Ministry of Transport, the International Union of Railways, the International Association of Public Transport, the Union of Public Transports, Safe.brussels, the Institute of Higher Studies of the Ministry of the Interior, the government of Quebec and the government of Canada, took place in Paris. The conference was held at the headquarters of the International Union of Railways.  

For this 7th edition, the theme of the conference was: Security in Mobility.

To mark the beginning of this 7th edition of the international conference, an opening cocktail was held at the residence of the Canadian Ambassador in Paris. Our partner, the Canadian Embassy in France, and Amy Baker, Deputy Head of Mission, welcomed partners and speakers, for the first meeting between all the participants of this conference. 

The event included plenary sessions, workshops, and field visits. The conference gathered many participants from all over the world (nearly ten nationalities were represented among more than fifty speakers) concerned by the observation, the analysis, and the good practices related to the improvement of security in mobility, such as political agents, researchers, representatives of transport operators, NGOs, and institutional representatives.

Nearly 180 participants attended the conference, coming from 138 different companies and representing more than 20 countries from 4 continents.  

The ICPC would like to thank the Government of Quebec and the Government of Canada for their financial support in the development of this conference. We were pleased to have Omar Alghabra’ support, Minister of Transport of Canada, via a video contribution and to host Michelle Boisvert, Delegate General of Quebec in Paris, in person, taking part in the opening remarks.

The opening plenary of the conference was introduced by the ICPC. Michelle Côté, Director of Research, and Florilène Cornier, Analyst and Project Officer, presented the conceptual framework of the conference around the current issues of safety in mobilities that are spread across the world. It was the opportunity to share the organization’s different expertise on the topic as well as the importance of a differential analysis of these safety issues from one country to another.  

During these two days of conferences, workshops were dedicated to specific phenomena, such as the fight against fraud, harassment in transport, prevention against the terrorist threat and crisis management, analysis of crime in transport and aggression to staff. These topics, among many others, were addressed by various representatives of transport operators discussing key security issues and how to prevent them.   

Discussions about effective tools to measure, analyze and study the phenomenon, examples of strong pathways and platforms for knowledge transfer, presentations of crime and safety approaches specific to mobility, effective evaluation as well as dissemination of best practices, were also part of these exchanges. 

Participants were also able to select and participate in one of the five different visits and demonstrations to further their practical knowledge:  

  • Two dog team demonstrations, cyno-detection, and cyno-attack by the Société nationale des chemins de fer français est l’entreprise ferroviaire publique française (SNCF).  
  • A demonstration of intervention techniques by the SNCF.  
  • A training offered by the Régie autonome des transports parisiens (RATP) on awareness for victims of harassment. Presentation of the Stand UP project and the 5D method in order to learn how to react safely in a harassment situation in a public place, as a victim or a witness.   
  • A visit organized by the RATP of the security devices and the security headquarters at the Gare de Lyon metro station. This visit allowed experts to discover the operating methods of security interventions.   
  • Presentation of a social collection bus by the RATP. This presentation was an opportunity to discover an original prevention system for reaching out to homeless people and fighting social exclusion and ensuring the safety of its transport systems.    

Being at its seventh event, this international conference has truly become a meeting point for crime observation and crime analysis. 

It should be noted that the proceedings of the conference will soon be available online.  

For any questions or requests, please write to info@cipc-icpc.org. 

The ICPC met with its network in France, in Bordeaux and Lille

After its visit in May, the ICPC was back in Europe for a mission. During the month of October, Director General, Ann Champoux, met with several members, partners and new collaborators to discuss opportunities for collaboration in crime prevention. 

Meetings at Bordeaux City Hall

Following the visit of Amine Smihi, Deputy Mayor of Bordeaux, in September to the ICPC office in Montreal, it was the ICPC’s turn to visit Bordeaux. As part of her mission in France, Ann Champoux met with Amine Smihi to discuss opportunities for collaboration in crime prevention.

The ICPC was welcomed at the Bordeaux City Hall to meet with Mr. François Mesure, Director General of the Bordeaux City Hall and Ms. Eléonore Becat, Deputy Director and Head of the Bordeaux CLSPD.

In the afternoon, the Director General took part in a visit of the Urban Supervision Center (CSU) where she was able to talk with Mr. Laurent Lapegue, Director of the Municipal Police and Public Tranquillity. They were able to discuss issues related to urban security and the feeling of insecurity of citizens.

Participation in the ethical committee of video protection – Bordeaux City Hall

At the end of the day, ICPC had the chance to attend and take part in the ethical committee of video protection at the town hall, in the presence of the Mayor and Mr Smihi.

Assises de la sécurité des territoires, October 12-13, in Lille

The Director General of ICPC, Ann Champoux, attended the meeting of the security of the territories in Lille. The French Forum for Urban Security (FFSU) presented an updated version of the White Paper for territorial security integrating all the new recommendations and practices of local actors.

Also, a presentation of the prevention-security devices in Lille and a national meeting of prevention-security directors and coordinators were on the program.

We would like to thank all our collaborators for their welcome and these profitable exchanges. 

Police-population seminar organized in collaboration with Espoir 18 in Paris

On October 11th and 12th, a seminar on improving communication between police and the public took place in Paris. The event was organized through a partnership between ICPC and the Parisian organization Espoir 18.  The objective of this seminar was to present successful initiatives undertaken internationally on constructive dialogue between law enforcement and community members, through round tables, an audience of academics, police officers, and civil society stakeholders.

Since 2019, ICPC and Espoir 18 have been collaborating on a project on improving police-population dialogue, with a particular emphasis on the young public and minority groups in their relationship with the police institution. This partnership is therefore part of a research on ways to improve this type of dialogue, to document innovative experiences and practices at the international level and to promote knowledge transfer.  This year, several activities were carried out as part of this collaboration: a review of international good practices was co-authored, ICPC hosted the Espoir 18 team in Montreal as part of its North American theatre tour, and this seminar which took place in October.

The seminar included :

  • The presentation of the practice review “Improving Police-Population Dialogue: An Introduction to International Issues and Practices” produced by ICPC and Espoir 18, with the support of the Open Society Foundations;    
  • The presentation of successful national (in France) and international initiatives along with round table discussions; 
  • The screening and debate of a documentary made by the young of Espoir 18 on racial profiling; 
  • Stories of young people, families, and police officers on the relationship between the police and the population; 
  • An evening debate on possible solutions to improve the police-population dialogue and a future action plan to be put in place.  

The development of an action plan for the period 2023 to 2025 based on the exchanges and lessons learned from the seminar will be produced for the next phase of this collaboration.

The ICPC met its network in France and Belgium 

The ICPC was back on a mission in Europe. During the month of May, Director General Ann Champoux met with several members, partners and new collaborators to discuss opportunities for collaboration in crime prevention. 

Meeting with the President of the ICPC Board of Directors, UIC and ONDT 

On Tuesday, May 17th, in Paris, the ICPC met with the President of the Board of Directors, Isabelle Lonvis-Rome, in order to discuss, among other things, the strategic programming 2021-2023 of the ICPC.   

In the afternoon, the Director General met Marie-Hélène Bonneau, Head of the security division for the International Union of Railways (UIC), and Fabrice Fussy, Head of the National Observatory of Crime in transports (ONDT), with the aim of exchanging and collaborating on the organization of a conference to be held in autumn 2022.   

Meeting with the International Relations Department of the Bordeaux City Council 

The Director General and the President of the Board of Directors of the ICPC went to Bordeaux for a meeting at the Judicial Court of Bordeaux in order to exchange with French stakeholders on issues related to domestic violence and Equality between women and men.   

Afterwards, Ann Champoux met Sophie Senghor, Deputy Director of the President’s Office and la Direction des Relations Internationales de la mairie de Bordeaux (the International Relations Department of Bordeaux City Council). This meeting was an opportunity to present the current activities of the ICPC, as well as the perspectives of collaboration to be set up in Bordeaux, around projects related to the prevention of the exploitation of women and urban safety.   

Meeting with the Délégation Générale du Québec à Paris 

On Friday, May 20, the ICPC was back in Paris to meet Lisa-Marlène Ntibayindusha, Political Affairs and Cooperation Advisor of the Délégation Générale du Québec à Paris (General Delegation of Quebec in Paris). The meeting focused on the current activities of the ICPC and future collaborations, notably for the organization of an international conference in autumn 2022. 

Meetings with the UITP and the Délégation générale du Québec à Bruxelles 

On Monday, May 23, a meeting took place at the offices of the UITP in Brussels, the International Association of Public Transport, with Karine Sbirrazzuolo, Co-Director of the Knowledge & Innovation Department, and Mohamed Mezghani, Secretary General, for a working meeting on security in transport.    

In the afternoon, a discussion took place with Stéphanie Franssen, Bilateral Affairs and Cooperation Attaché of the Délégation générale du Québec à Bruxelles (General Delegation of Quebec in Brussels, DGQB), to provide an update on international projects and future collaborations.  

Meeting with Bruxelles Prévention & Sécurité

On Tuesday, May 24, the ICPC was hosted for a working meeting at the offices of Bruxelles Prévention & Sécurité (Brussels Prevention & Security) to meet with the Executive Committee, including among others, the Director General and High Official for the Brussels region, Sophie Lavaux, as well as the Director of the Brussels Observatory for Prevention and Security, Christine Rouffin.   

Meeting with the Institut des hautes études du ministère de l’Intérieur (IHEMI) 

On Wednesday, May 25, Ann Champoux and Fabrice Fussy, Head of the National Observatory of Crime in transports, a partner organization of the ICPC, met with Éric Freysselinard, French High Civil Servant, Director of the Institute of High Studies of the Ministry of the Interior (IHEMI), to discuss issues related to transport insecurity in France.  

We would like to thank all our collaborators for their welcome and these fruitful exchanges. 

The ICPC connects with its network in France and Belgium

This month, during her visit to Europe, the ICPC’s Director General met with many members, partners, and new collaborators to discuss cooperation opportunities for crime prevention.

The Association des maires de France et des présidents d’intercommunalité

On Monday October 18th, in Paris, the ICPC met with Corinne de la Mettrie, Deputy Director of the Association des maires de France et des présidents d’intercommunalité (AMF), Pauline Tivelet, Project manager and Head of European and International Affairs of the AMF, Nathalie Genest, Political Affairs and Cooperation Attaché of the Délégation générale du Québec à Paris (General Delegation of Quebec in Paris, DGQP), and Nicolas Pasquier, Political Affairs and Cooperation Intern of the DGQP. This meeting was an opportunity to present the ICPC, its ongoing projects, its key initiatives, especially the Urban Safety Laboratory, and to consider future collaboration.

The Délégation générale de Québec à Paris

On Tuesday, October 19th, in Paris, the ICPC met with Michèle Boisvert, General Delegate of Quebec in Paris, to exchange on how to support Quebec-France internationalization projects in crime prevention.

Efus Conference “Security, Democracy and Cities”

The ICPC attended the seventh international conference organized by the European Forum on Urban Security (Efus), an ICPC member, in Nice. The conference took place from October 20th to 22nd and included many workshops on the role and involvement of citizens, mayors, cities, and local authorities in urban safety that the ICPC attended. The ICPC also took the opportunity to reconnect with several international partners and discuss future collaboration. The ICPC also attended an award ceremony at which the Observatoire international de la délinquance dans les transports (International Observatory of Crime on Transport), an ICPC member, gave out the PrixPrev, a prize for local stakeholders who developed inspiring prevention practices. This year’s theme was “Mobility and safety”.

The Délégation générale du Québec à Bruxelles

On Monday, October 25th, in Brussels, the ICPC and Stéphanie Frassen, Bilateral Affairs and Cooperation Attaché of the Délégation générale du Québec à Bruxelles (General Delegation of Quebec in Brussels, DGQB), discussed the ICPC’s ongoing activities and upcoming collaborations.

Bruxelles Prévention & Sécurité

Also on October 25th, the ICPC met with Sophie Lavaux, Director General of Bruxelles Prévention et Sécurité (Brussels Prevention and Safety, BPS), an ICPC member, Christine Rouffin, Observatory Director at BPS, and Yves Bastaerts, Deputy Director of BPS.

Belgian Forum for Urban Security

On Tuesday, October 26th, in Brussels, the ICPC met with Laetitia Nolet, Coordinator of the Belgian Forum for Urban Security, about prospective collaborations in crime prevention and safety.

The International Association of Public Transport

Also on October 26th, the ICPC met with Karine Sbirrazzuoli, Deputy Director of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) to discuss crime prevention and safety on transport among other things.