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506 Evaluation of the state of citizen safety in Finland
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  1. Teija Mankkinen
  1. The Finnish National Rescue Association, Finland

Abstract

Background The concept of safety has traditionally been limited to physical security. However, in the 2000s the concept has been expanded to cover also the aspects of social, economic and environmental wellbeing (Kekki 2015). The promotion of safety and security in a global world requires more comprehensive and multi-sectoral cooperation, but also broader and more cross-sectoral information on issues preventing or promoting safety.

Methods The presentation reviews the previous research data available on the topic. Also, the presentation summarises the current state of the citizen safety from the perspective of the previous research and discusses the possible gaps concerning the produced data. The review is based on the data consisting of the previous administration-specific security and safety surveys and studies as well as national surveys.

Results A number of surveys are available on the topic, but most of them define the research topic quite narrowly from the perspective of certain administrative bodies. Only a small amount of data is found on citizen’s abilities or opportunities to promote their own safety. Hence, there is also a lack of standardised evaluation criteria for (measuring) citizen safety. In addition, the comparability of data is difficult due to differing definitions of the concepts which are used and the limitations concerning different research settings.

Conclusions The future decision-making needs to be supported by diverse, cross-administrative information about citizen safety and the issues related to security and safety in general. Indicators formed to monitor the development of citizen safety are presented as the conclusions of the presentation.

  • citizen safety
  • evaluation
  • indicators
  • decision-making

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