Local Security Diagnostic in Swiss Municipalities  

What is a Local Security Diagnostic?

The Local Diagnostic of Security (LDS) measures security in the daily life of residents. It includes an analysis of subjective representations of security, petty criminality and incivilities, traffic security, police activity, perception of the police and expectations of residents of police services. The core of the diagnostic is represented by a public opinion survey (using an adapted version of the standard International Crime victimization Survey, see www.unicri.it). Ideally, the LDS includes other data such as traffic accidents police statistics, calls to the call center (911) of the police, various crime statistics of the police, as well as other socio-demographic data.

Under various forms, LDS have been institutionalized in Western Europe with the spread of the community policing philosophy in the late nineties. They typically embody a policing philosophy conceived as service to citizens. Policies and priorities are redefined using survey of public expectations and local demands for police services. 

LDS constitute an essential navigation instrument for police managers as they allow to measure progress regularly on a selected number of indicators. They allow a better control over the steering of a police organization. In a way, they are a GPS, a guiding system for a police manager. LDS indicators usually are integrated into larger navigation instruments of a police organization.

The value of the instrument resides in the reliability of the analyses. Errors in measurements are fatal. For this reason, LDS should be accompanied scientifically.

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