Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Unity (Unity)

Teaser

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the projectThe Unity vision is to strengthen the connection between the police and the diverse communities they serve to maximise the safety and security of all citizens. The end-user focus of Unity shall identify best practices...

Summary

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project
The Unity vision is to strengthen the connection between the police and the diverse communities they serve to maximise the safety and security of all citizens. The end-user focus of Unity shall identify best practices in Community Policing (CP) through primary and secondary research to enhance cooperation between Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and citizens.

Live pilot demonstrations of technological tools in six EU member states will facilitate, strengthen and accelerate community and LEAs communications. These tools will amplify and support the design and delivery of CP training and awareness raising activities to LEAs, citizens and community partners, including online virtual communities.

Unity will provide LEAs with a new CP model and shared framework of governance and enabling tools and technology to support closer cooperation for greater, more effective and efficient and more inclusive CP.

The citizen-centred approach of Unity supports the combined protection, safety, security and well-being of communities, but also supports an increased collective, shared ownership of large scale risks. Coordinated by pioneers and practitioners in CP, Unity is developing new ways of working, which will serve as a catalyst for change within communities, helping the latter to become an integral part of the solution, and thereby sharing the ownership and delivery of a sustainable CP model which simultaneously embraces the benefits of technology while meeting diverse community needs.

This new and sustainable citizen-centred CP model has trust, prevention, accountability and information sharing at its heart, providing the ability for two-way flows of information and communication to allow for greater understanding of the problems and issues faced by communities. By working with citizens and community stakeholders to arrive at a full understanding of their concerns, targeted interventions and solutions can be agreed to keep local communities’ safe and feeling safer.

Work performed

WP1
Task 1.1 Project Management Plan
Work performed in this reporting period has been in line with Task 1.1, activities involved the creation of a project management plan. The plan details the protocols and mechanisms in place to ensure the delivery of Unity, including activities that are administrative, financial and technical in nature.
D.1 – Project Management Plan was designed and implemented and was submitted on the ECAS following peer review by SHU and FHVR in line with the deliverable date of Month 3.
Task 1.2 Project Governance and Reporting
Work performed in this reporting period has been in line with Task 1.2, activities involved, the organisation of the General Assembly, Technical Management Committee and Project Management Committee, Work Package Leaders and Coordination Team.
The internal management of the consortium, ensuring monitoring and control mechanisms were implemented
M1 – Unity kick off meeting was held with partners on 25th and 26th June 2015 in Wakefield, UK. The meeting was a success and partners were all clear on roles and responsibilities. The request for Edinburgh Napier to become a full partner was discussed and agreed at the kick off meeting, this was formalised in an Amendment request that has now been approved and implemented.
Monthly Work Package Leader calls were diarised and are held on the last Thursday of every months. The first call took place on Thursday 30th July. This process has been a success, with partners attending the call or providing updates via a report if they are not available.
D1.2 progress reporting template was created and was circulated, this report is completed every 3 months. Work package leaders use this reporting document to collate information on updates of progress on tasks and resources used. As Project coordinators we provide guidance on this process and send reminders when the reports are due.
Task 1.3 Project Coordination
Work performed in this reporting period has been in line with Task 1.3, activities involved, the implementation of the project management plan and the delivery of Unity’s aims and objectives. Key activities have been;
• Organisation of Consortium meetings, relevant workshops and preparation for M12 EC reviews
• Ensuring deadlines for deliverables were met
• Implementation of the Quality Management Plan (QMP)
• Support for project partners (technical, administrative and financial)
• Ongoing monitoring and management of risk
• Preparation of an overall project report

D1.3 Overall project report, is not due until M36, however our monitoring and management of the project allows the collation of information to be stored in preparation for the final report.
D1.4 Quality Management Plan was designed and implemented. This was submitted into ECAS following peer review by SHU and FHVR in line with the deliverable date of Month 3.
Distribution of the grant funding was completed I year one, and project coordination activities have been ongoing, with partners showing faith and support in the processes.
Task 1.4 Establishment of Unity sub committees and Advisory Board
D1.5 – Establishment of the sub committees has been completed and circulated to all Unity project partners. Committee’s roles and responsibilities have been communicated and discussed at the recent consortium 12 month meeting in Estonia.
The committees are supporting the development of Unity and offer expert guidance to the consortium on the development of Unity’s outputs. These sub committees include;
• International Advisory Board
• Scientific & Technical Steering Committee
• Security / Ethics and Confidentiality Committee
WP 2
Work in Work Package 2 for the Months 1 – 12 is as follows:
D 2.1 has been completed. This was the ethical and ethical framework for the Unity project. This was developed through a literature review and through interviews conducted by all partners with ethical and legal experts in their own countries. This deliverable was co

Final results

Unity project, progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic and the wider societal implications of the project so far
Unity will have a far-reaching and positive impacts for individual citizens, their communities and the LEAs and wider partners and stakeholders who have responsibility for keeping communities’ safe and feeling safer. Unity offers a unique range of positive impacts within and well beyond the scope of expected impacts of the work programme.
Just under 800 surveys have been completed across Europe in the first 12 months of the Unity project. Unity has already started reaching and obtaining the views of our communities, stakeholders and representatives from LEAs.
Implementation of the Unity approach will have direct and indirect impacts on how a diverse range of citizens and communities interact with their local LEAs. Unity will engage and include members of the community in establishing procedures and processes for engaging the wider community. Through Unity, communities and their needs will heavily influence the best practise guidance and also the Unity framework and communication system, leading to an effective process directly developed in association with end-users.
By listening to our communities, in the first year of Unity we have started the work required to create cohesive communities where police are seen as catalysts for change and where citizens and communities take ownership of issues to be solved.
Increasing community participation in the problem solving process, Unity will thereby increase the sustainability of solutions addressing community concerns. Most importantly, Unity has and will continue to raise awareness within communities about the potential for effective collaboration with local LEAs, facilitating the participation of citizens, communities and partners by opening channels that has and will continue to enable effective communications with LEAs.
Increased empowerment will enable residents to be more directly involved in service delivery in their communities, this creates a process of working with local community partners and the police to increases their sense of empowerment.
Improved efficiencies will follow as Community partner agencies join the CP approach of Unity which will result in more effective and efficient delivery of services to meet local needs and requirements. Improving prevention, Information sharing, Trust, accountability. These four key priorities came out of the research undertaken with our communities through the surveys.
Perceived reductions in crime, disorder and anti- social behaviour gives our citizens an increased perceptions of reduced crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour from the feedback they receive through engagement, communications and meetings with partners on the actions taken to address local priorities. The Unity project facilitates this, and so produces an increased feeling of confidence in police and partners.
Unity will enable more effective problem solving. When issues are dealt with collaboratively through Unity more than one agency, partner representatives and citizens can engage to resolve issues more effectively.
Unity enables citizens to engage in joint problem solving, this will lead to increased confidence in partners to deal with their problems and as a result of their increased confidence, they will be more likely to further engage with partner organisations by reporting problems and providing information.
Citizens observe an improved perception of safety through experiencing increased visibility, access and engagement with police and community partners. The Unity Coordination Portal is where data posted by citizens will facilitating the sharing of information, LEAs can also engage, increasing the virtual access and engagement that communities are telling the project they want.
Representatives from community partner agencies will see results being achieved in their areas. This

Website & more info

More info: http://www.unity-project.eu/.