Partnerships, crime reduction, and accountability and trust in law enforcement were some of topics in focus at a side event on "Building Police-Public Partnerships: Community-Oriented Policing and Community Engagement" organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Section in Vienna, Austria, on 23 May.
Criminal justice practitioners, policymakers and civil society representatives gathered to examine the role of community-oriented policing in enhancing public safety and strengthening trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
Panelists shared practical experiences and lessons learned on engaging with communities, strengthening partnerships and achieving more focused and effective policing. They also explored how community-oriented policing can, as a strategic approach to preventing and combatting crime, sustainably transform policing practices through collaboration and shared responsibility for community safety.
The discussions underscored the importance of multi-stakeholder engagement, such as with civil society, oversight bodies and the media, in putting community-oriented policing into practice. In this context, the OSCE guidebook on Good Practices in Building Police-Public Partnerships (2022) was presented as a key resource, outlining common principles and offering concrete guidance to support the use of these strategies by police, policymakers and community actors.
Looking to the future, participants recognized the role of community-oriented policing in long-term crime reduction and promoting more effective and accountable law enforcement, with knowledge exchange and dialogue being crucial to advancing these approaches across the OSCE area and beyond.
The event took place on the margins of the 34th Session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) , and was co-sponsored by Finland's 2025 OSCE Chairpersonship and the United Kingdom Delegation to the OSCE.
