Goals: describe the main goals of the good practice

It’s an agreement that involves local institutions (the Province and several Municipalities) as well as civil society bodies, in order to strengthen cooperation and synergies among different organization involved in some way in the provision of support services for frail people.

In the contest of this agreement, 

1.  The Province pursues  this aims:
2. Organize a  network  between local and National law enforcement in order to ensure the proximity of public bodies to the citizens 
3. Organize a listening , information and education service dedicated to the weakest part of the population
4. Organize assistance and support  services (insurance for elderly people victim of a crime).
5. Monitoring
6. The municipality commitments are:
7. Strengthen local police officers’ presence throughout the territory,specially where the weakest part of the population (elderly, lonely persons, kids) are more exposed to risks, such as public parks or hamlets. Thus concurring to nearing policy officer figure to the citizens
8. Concur to the prevention of crimes against elderly by the mean of
   1. a precise and capillary information
   2. a support activity
   3. a police action in case of necessity
9. Improve the police officers skill concerning the approach to elderly and young people
10. Concur to build a culture of security and legality among young people

Target Group: describe on which group the good practice is targeted

Weakest part of the population: children, youngster, elderly and vulnerable people living in solitude

Approach: describe the way in which the good practice is implemented.

As mentioned, some activities are responsibility of the Municipality and some others of the Province:

Actions carried out by the municipality of Asti

1. In...frazione (in … fraction, in Italian an hamlet is called frazione so in hamlet sounds like infraction)

Local police officers became a contact point for people living in hamlets^[1], especially elderly and/or people leaving alone. They made this by the mean of a mobile office (each patrol have a laptop, a portable printer , a USB internet connection and a GPS), circulating around the hamlets.  Their presence is scheduled in agreement with local authorities and was advertised through an informative campaign involving (newspaper, radio, internet and posters). Moreover, elderly and most vulnerable people, are provided with a telephone number of police officers available 24 hours a day in case of emergency.

1. Park watch

There is a “walking patrol” that watch daily, by turns, the four local parks that are the most attended by elderly and children. This action as a preventive aim, but is also an opportunity to get in touch with people attending parks and improving the sense of “perceived safety”.

1. Third age and safety

This action had the aim to:
a)  train a group of police officers to prevent crimes committed against elderly
b) develop informative booklets / leaflets aimed to raise awareness among elderly people on safety-related issues. They were afterwards distributed in places where elderly people gather (community centers, elderly centers) but also during the local market, where a dedicated stand was set up, distributing free coffee and tea together with the leaflets. These informative booklets are simple, easy to read and provide elderly with advices and precautions to avoid frauds and deceits.
c) promote – together with local associations and informal groups -  informative meetings for elderly, chaired by police officers.
d) The local Police corps are also available to cooperate with local NGOs on specific projects aimed to prevent abuses and assist the victims.

The municipality of Asti has allocated to this project € 100.000 for the year 2009.

Actions carried out by the Province:

1. Definition of an intervention protocol aimed to coordinate activities of Local Police, Provincial Police and State Police corps and to set up a steering office:
2. Setting up of a permanent work-group and a steering office
3. Feasibility study on the setting up of a coordinated network of Police corps
4. Definition of operational protocols
5. Training of staff members
6. Monitoring of the system
7. Setting up of a counseling, information and education service dedicated to vulnerable people

This activity is meant to support and integrated action 1.
Several local NGOs and association where involved in the project, through a welfare mix model aimed to contribute to counter social isolation and fragmentation of elderly people lacking of a supportive family network. This action included different activities, such as:

• “street education”: social workers got in touch directly with elderly in the street, in order to create social relation and a social protection network around frail elderly
• Social mediation offices: managed by a team of professionals that intervenes to counter the sense of insecurity and fear of citizens

The following steps were taken:

• Executive project planning
• Training of social workers and volunteers
• Promotion of the initiatives (through local mass media)
• Training on the issue of legality in schools and among migrant communities
• Implementation of the services
• Support services for victims of crime:

This action included:

• A psychological support service for elderly victim of crimes and abuses (involving professional social workers and volunteers)
• The activation of an insurance dedicated to people over 70, to refund them of damages caused by theft

The following steps were taken:

• Feasibility study / executive project planning
• Signing of protocols / agreements with social services
• Stipulation of insurances
• Information and communication
• Project monitoring

Who does implement this good practice? Mention, if relevant, the organization or persons who do the work.

Promoters are: Asti Prefecture (it’s the local branch of the Home Office Ministry), Asti Province and the Municipality of Asti.

Partners are: elderly trade unions, local health care services and local social services.

What material is available on this good practice (description, website etc.)

How widely is this good practice used in your country?

This project is carried out in the Province of Asti – made of 118 municipalities and hamlets. It has 220.156 inhabitants.

What are the results, outcomes, experiences with this good practice? Please mention the source(s).

The project is ongoing.

Expected results for the Municipality of Asti are:

• To improve the perceived safety in the population
• To move institutions closer to citizens’ needs
• To reduce crimes against vulnerable people in the most risky areas (such as hamlets and parks)
• To improve the skills of local police officers
• To develop a culture of safety and legality among young people

Expected results for the Province of Asti are:

• To strengthen the presence of police officers in the territory, so to be able to intervene quickly – especially in the smallest towns and hamlets
• To optimize the use of police forces on the territory (in a context of recession in which there are less available resources), in order to: create proximity services, increase the sense of nearness of institutions to the people, decrease the sense of insecurity.
• To promote the creation of a informal network of control that support the mainstreaming of the culture of legality and to strengthen the sense of belonging to the community, through information and education campaigns. 

Are there effect studies? Please mention the source(s) if the answer is ‘yes’.

What are the success factors?

• Getting police corps closer to the people through informal channels (such as the provision of a direct telephone number to contact the local agent).
• Involvement of several different local actors and coordination of their actions.