Martin Glud, SSP Consultant from #StrongCity Viborg (Denmark), met up with his Los Angeles (U.S.A.) #StrongCity colleagues whilst travelling in the region to share experiences on P/CVE.

The meeting was set up by Viborg’s Martin Glud and L.A.’s Joumana Silyan-Saba to share ideas and perspectives on prevention. Both cities learned about each other’s P/CVE approaches.

The Danish SSP model (Schools, Social Services & Police) was established in the 1970s as a key crime prevention partnership between core agencies, with inter-agency information sharing. In Viborg, preventing radicalisation falls under the general preventative work that is based in the municipality’s Children & Youth Department and the SSP network. The overall focus and offset is prevention from an early age (0-18 years), with a strong focus on parents. The municipality too, has a dedicated anti-radicalisation task force and a stand-by unit. The Viborg SSPs have a long tradition of sharing their expertise with partners worldwide.

L.A.’s P/CVE approach is best described as a holistic approach to prevention that includes building healthy societies, promoting values of inclusion and ensuring culturally appropriate services.

Both Viborg and L.A. agreed that some of the future key issues in preventative work will include digital education, ensuring children and youth feel included in their communities, and dealing with (social) media challenges.

Although Viborg, with its 96.000 inhabitants, is a very different city to L.A., practitioners from both cities found it insightful to sit together and discuss challenges and solutions with. They strongly recommend other members of the Strong Cities Network to reach out to their fellow #StrongCities to exchange knowledge and ideas.