Municipalities and Police Work Together on Development of Smart Society

On 15 April, the Municipality of The Hague and the police signed the letter of intent on the "Impact Coalition Safety and Security for Smart Society". The letter of intent indicates how we work together in the field of Safety & Security. Amsterdam, Almere, Eindhoven and Apeldoorn also sign this agreement to collaborate in this coalition.

The municipalities and the VNG have been working together for a long time in various fields in order to make better use of the opportunities of technological development. This is necessary because cities are increasingly prominent in themes such as sustainability, mobility and healthcare. Saskia Bruines (Alderman for Economy, International and Services) is leading this movement as portfolio holder of the Smart Society at the VNG. The Municipality of The Hague is the driving force behind the theme of safety & security in the smart society collaboration.

Saskia Bruines: “By joining forces and using digitisation for safety & security, we can design solutions for urban safety issues according to public values. Urgent themes include crowd management in times of corona and events, the application of sensors for urban security, secure data sharing and the application of data analysis and AI.”

The signing of this letter of intent took place digitally of course. Henk Geveke (member of the police force management): “Our society is under enormous pressure and we are forced to focus, but right now it is important to continue investing in the future. We must work together to find solutions to problems and innovations to jointly ensure safety in the cities and their surroundings.”

Combining Forces

The letter of intent states how we will cooperate in the coalition with the G-5 cities, G-40 municipalities and the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG). Foundations DITSS and The Hague Security Delta support the coalition.

With this signing, the parties involved will prioritise the safety themes that they cooperatively selected. The aim is to learn from each other when it comes to security in public spaces with innovative, digital solutions, the cybersecurity thereof and ethical issues that come with the new technologies. These solutions are ultimately intended to be useful nationally. The municipal living labs such as the Johan Cruijff Arena, Scheveningen and Stratumseind are utilized to experiment in the field of security. When successful, the results can be applied and further developed elsewhere. The VNG helps to share knowledge and bring successes to other municipalities. Ministries will be involved to help remove barriers where necessary.

This cooperation with the municipalities is of strategic importance for the police. Henk Geveke: “The police wants to know opportunities and consequences in the development of smart cities for police tasks. We innovate together with partners to get in front of new security issues. That is why the police actively participated in the formation of this coalition. We use our knowledge and expertise from the units, innovation brokers and our Digitisation and Cybercrime program.”

Participate?

It is possible to join this collaboration. Saskia Bruines: “The coalition focuses on where the priority lies and where the innovation power is, in public and private partnerships. We like to talk to interested municipalities, public service providers, knowledge institutions and companies.”

More general information about this impact coalition can be found on https://vng.nl/rubrieken/onderwerpen/smart-society (in Dutch). Or send an email to icss@vng.nl.

More specific information on The Hague Security Delta program “Smart Secure Resilient Cities” is available on this site. Want to get involved or contribute to the goals of the Smart Society coalition? Already active in this field and have a valuable insight? Drop us a line at mark.ruijsendaal@thehaguesecuritydelta.com.