Danish law states that
police, schools, and the social system must carry out crime
preventive work among children and youths in every municipality of
the country.
Many municipalities
have organized their crime prevention work in a collaborative effort
between schools, social services, and the police. This is known as
SSP-cooperation.
Schools must create
a framework that allows for the individual development of students
towards and ability to make their own choices and act accordingly.
Furthermore, instruction in schools must touch on topics such as
substance abuse.
Social services must
monitor the living conditions of children and youths under 18 years
of age, to ensure that the municipal authority can act rapidly when
children and youth are in need of assistance. See
the Social Services Act (§4 and §6) The
goal of this effort is to give children and youths with special needs
the support they require in order to have the same opportunities for
personal development, good health, and self-realization that any
other child or youth has. This support can
be in the form of a personal counsellor or contact person in Social
Services.
The police must do crime
preventing work, according to the Administration of Justice Act,
§108.
The objective of the
SSP-cooperation is:
-
to build a network
based in the local community, and
-
to influence the
day-to-day life of children and youths with crime preventive
measures.
The work is
organized into three main fields of effort
-
The general effort is
directed at all children and youths within the municipality, and
includes in-school information on substance abuse, alcohol,
bullying, violence, etc.
-
The specific
effort is directed at groups of youths and children who have
previously had brushes with the law.This could, for instance, be a
concerted effort directed at a group of youths displaying
undesirable behaviour patterns.The objective of the effort could be
to influence the values of the group in a positive way, or to split
apart the group.
-
The individual
effort is directed at individual youths exhibiting undesirable or
criminal behaviour. The objective of this effort is to prevent
repeat crimes.
Youth clubs, sports
clubs and associations etc. that have regular contact with children
and youths will often participate in crime prevention efforts.
The organization of the SSP-cooperation may vary
from municipality to municipality.
Source:
SSP-samarbejdet – forudsætninger
og organisation, Det Kriminalpræventive Råd, 1998.
Article written by Anne Mette
Engelbrecht.
Translated from the original Danish
