Foot Patrol – Community Policing to Promote Safer Communities

This case is set in the urban area of the city of Lisbon.

From the police’s perspective, the most relevant factor behind the project was social: as a public service, their work serves everyone, so political and economic considerations play little role in their activity.

• Enhance security
• Enhance security perception
• Improve sustainable mobility
• Improve social inclusion

The model involves two police officers foot patrolling the same districts every day and holding monthly meetings with local partners and residents. Their activities follow a co-devised annual programme that addresses problems such as littering, vandalism, discomfort in public spaces, and parking. Community police officers cooperate with the population on the principle that security depends on everyone and is rooted in community support. This kind of model can help inform terrorism risk assessments for public spaces and support the planning and design of protective measures that the community will not perceive negatively.

The system is designed to engage key decision-makers — particularly senior police officers — more effectively in the delivery of Community Policing.

• Police of Lisbon
• Citizens in the Community

A collaborative, participatory approach enables citizens and police to engage in dialogue about key issues, fostering joint efforts to protect the city. If policing is about upholding the rule of law, Community Policing can be seen as a collaborative, citizen-focused and consensual way of achieving this.

This approach followed four key steps:

1. Establishing local partnerships
2. Undertaking a local security diagnosis (hosting focus group discussions to understand community concerns)
3. Designing the profile of the community policing officers
4. Selecting and training the community policing officers

In the field, the work spans four main areas: patrols that keep officers in contact with the community; contact with organisations as situations arise; participation in security group meetings, where priorities and urgent matters are planned annually; and awareness actions that empower the community to take responsibility for its own safety.

The Foot Patrol case has four innovative elements:

1. Preventive approach.
2. Participatory approach to traditional civil protection activities.
3. Involvement of community partners.
4. Moving beyond bureaucratic and traditional organisations regarding public security.

No technology has been integrated yet, but a website and a smartphone application for the Community Policing initiative are under development.

• This policing approach depends on close cooperation between police, partners and residents, sustained through regular partnership meetings and daily foot patrols by dedicated teams assigned to specific neighbourhoods. It allows Community Policing teams to gain recognition and acceptance among the population, fostering a trusting relationship between police and citizens.
• The system addresses a recurring problem: Community Police teams being redeployed from their assigned neighbourhoods to other policing tasks, which leaves officers unable to carry out the activities expected of them by partners and residents and undermines police-community relationships and citizens’ trust in policing.
• It also helps decision-makers and senior police officers in managerial positions better understand and recognise the value of Community Policing, encouraging them to keep Community Policing teams dedicated to their role in their designated neighbourhoods.

• Engaging citizens in protection matters through participatory methods from the very start of the project.
• Keeping the same teams involved helps establish stronger connections over the long term.
• The case also advanced the theoretical background around community policing, notably the importance of the Municipal Police taking over the action — reflecting the specificity of Portugal’s civil protection system, where the Municipal Police is not itself a criminal police force. As a result, these activities differed somewhat from “policiamento de proximidade”, which has a criminal component; community policing instead focused on preventive action.

• Perception of police fairness and trust in policing.
• Stigmatisation of areas.
• Discretion of front-line officers: Community Policing puts front-line officers into close contact with the public and often involves handling less serious crimes and incivilities, requiring them to exercise discretion and take appropriate action to maintain the community’s trust.
• Overlap of agendas and interests among stakeholders.
• Difficulty maintaining long-term partnerships.
• Reassignment of professionals involved in the activities to other Police duties, affecting the community bonds that have been established.

Community policing began in Lisbon as a pilot project, and its acceptance and spread have since made joining municipal policy the natural next step. Ensuring the methodology could be transferred elsewhere has been a concern from the outset.

Overall, Community Policing has grown from a single territory to 15 across Lisbon, with plans to keep expanding as resources allow.

Launching this kind of initiative requires both the support of the Police Commandant and strong population engagement.