Congress Programme

The Brandenburg Prevention Award of 2024 was announced as a creative competition and is directed specifically to young students between the ages of 6 to 21 years.

According to the main theme of the 29th DPT congress “Security in Change”, the students were asked to present their thoughts and feelings as well as their experiences in the context of ‘security’ in a creative way.  The main goal of the contest was to express how students can make a change and increase their perception of safety not only for themselves but for people around them.

To promote the creative competition all schools and other social institutions in the state of Brandenburg, Germany, were contacted directly as well as sending newsletters to social school workers. The schools and interested persons handed in their contributions between December 20, 2023, and March 15, 2024. A cross-departmental jury nominated the award winners out of 74 submitted contributions, among whom the price money of a total of 7.500 Euro will be shared.

As part of the ceremony at the 29th DPT, Mr. Michael Stübgen, Interior Minister of Brandenburg and Chairman of the Brandenburg State Prevention Council, will honour the awardees during the ceremony.  

Dr. Michael Kowalski, Ministerium für Justiz und Sicherheit

Security authorities and civil society in search of action and sovereignty in the digitally expanded public space In Western democracies, there are signs of a loss of trust in many respects: among citizens towards the state, towards the media and towards established institutions - and among themselves. In my presentation, I would like to inform about the search of security authorities and civil society for action and sovereignty in the digitally expanded public space. First of all, I will conceptualize the central role of trust in the democratic constitutional state and illustrate the risks of anti-institutional extremism based on recent findings from the authorities in the Netherlands. Secondly, I will explain the importance of trust in international cooperation between security agencies. Thirdly, I examine from an ethical perspective the right level of mistrust that would be appropriate towards leading private actors in the digital space in the pursuit of state sovereignty. Finally, I highlight the urgent need for action to ensure freedom of expression and education in the run-up to elections. The key to trust in democracy is to recognize undesirable influence by state and private actors in good time before elections and to counter it effectively.

PhD Macarena Rau, International CPTED Association (ICA)

Urban Security is a discipline of environmental criminology that seeks to understand and intervene in the relationship that exists between the built environment and the spatial location of crime, violence, and incivilities in the territory. There are various approaches and methodologies with a greater or lesser degree of scientific evidence that are used to achieve higher levels of Urban Safety. One of them is the CPTED methodology that has been applied in the Commune of Puente Alto since 2001 in Chile on a sustained basis. This methodology has been around for more than 50 years since it was created in 1971 by C. Ray Jeffery in the United States and has the advantage that it has evolved over time from first generation CPTED (1971-2000), second generation CPTED (2001-2017), and third generation CPTED (2018-2023). This is a living methodology that integrates more and more variables for the sustainable achievement of urban security and one of the variables that works and considers is that urban lighting. This lecture seeks to clarify the answer to this question from a CPTED perspective: Is more light more security? In the lecture Dr. Macarena Rau will discuss also Dr. Randy Atlas White Paper on Security Lighting Updates and review of the latest IES Security Lighting Guidelines G-1-22 Reference: https://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/article/10.11648.j.urp.20190404.11

Imke Bruns, Axel Springer
Esther Richter, BASF SE
Bettina Rommelfanger, Baden-Württemberg State Office of Criminal Investigation - Police Director
Julia Vincke, BASF SE

In this interdisciplinary panel discussion, committed representatives from business security organizations (BASF & Axel Springer) and security authorities (LKA BW) address the phenomenon of sexual harassment and discrimination. This discussion promises exciting insights, different perspectives and courageous approaches to tackle this important issue. In particular, the participants discuss pressing issues surrounding sexual harassment and discrimination, share experiences and challenges, discuss possible solutions and provide new insights. Sexual harassment and discrimination are not trivial offenses and concern us all. We cordially invite you to follow the discussion, get involved interactively and enter into a dialog with the experts.

Prof. Dr. Mary C. Pierce, Northwestern University

The most common child injury is the most misdiagnosed. Bruising ist the most common injury from physical abuse and is also the most common injury to be misdiagnosed as accidental prior to a fatal or near fatal assault from abuse. The presentation will cover distinguishing characteristics of bruising that help differentiate abuse from accidental injury in young children and will showcase an interactive app that makes the published evidenced readily available and interpretable to help informed decision making and support early preventive measures. Domestic violence is often not discovered or only discovered late, and injuries are often recorded as accidents. Children learn early on to implement this justification strategy in their own social environment, accept violence and go easy on perpetrators, just as they themselves are socialized to do. Injuries and abuse, even in institutions, often go unrecognized or are misinterpreted. The children have no concept of safety. Specialist services involved are often satisfied with accident explanations because of a lack of knowledge how to diffentiate accidental bruises from bruises as a result of abuse. The biographies of young people who come to light with violent offenses often contain their own experiences of (domestic) violence. Dr. Pierce is a nationally acclaimed expert on emergency paediatrics.

Sebastian Jørgensen, Nordic Safe Cities

With the Safe Digital City concept, Nordic Safe Cities aims to modernize the prevention system in the Nordic countries for the digital era. This initiative targets online harm and hate, assisting municipalities, civil society, youth, and police in safeguarding democracy and ensuring safety online. The Safe Digital City concept focuses on addressing the mainstreaming of conspiratorial and extremist narratives or recruitment into subcultures in local debates. These trends can mark the beginning of radicalization or fuel polarized and hateful discussions, posing challenges to democracy and crucial social media debates. The Safe Digital City consists of three main pillars: Mapping Hate: Using an algorithm, we track and map hate on social media, identifying hotspots, causes, and victims—essentially mapping the "local battlefield." Creating a Digital Mindset: We collaborate with cities to establish a structure for sharing information and fostering a digital approach among prevention professionals and civil society, enabling them to adapt their work to the online environment. Collaborative Online Prevention Efforts: We aim to move prevention efforts online, encouraging municipalities, police, and civil society to work together, find digital pathways for existing prevention work, and develop new strategies to tackle local problems.

Leslie Morgan Steiner, Washington Post

Leslie Morgan speaks candidly from personal and professional experience about surviving gender violence – interpersonal abuse, trafficking and sexual assault. Her credentials include over a decade of keynote speaking, and leadership roles at the conference on Crimes Against Women, The One Love Foundation, and DC Volunteer Lawyers Project. She ist a regular speaker at international womens conferences. Her TedTalks have been viewed by over eight million people. She is a frequent media guest on The Today Show, National Public Radio, Anderson Cooper 360, The Tamron Hall Show, ABC, NBC, CBS and cable news networks. She has appeared in Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Elle, Parents, Self, Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Los Angeles Times and CNN.com.

Dr. Britta Hecking, Camino
Moritz Konradi, Camino
Sarah Vollmer, Camino

IcARUS is an ambitious project aimed at reviving the approach to urban security. It seeks to develop innovative tools and practices to create a versatile toolkit that empowers urban security actors to effectively address the challenges they face. At its core, IcARUS offers a comprehensive understanding of urban security issues, promoting a holistic approach to tackling crime, incorporating prevention, sanctions and social cohesion. Several trends have prompted a reevaluation of traditional urban security methods. These include dwindling confidence in public institutions and democracy, reduced public funding, and the increasing interconnectivity of cities. Recognising the multifaceted nature of crime, security has become more intertwined and complex. The conventional reactive approach to crime, relying on surveillance and deterrence has been questioned for its effectiveness and high costs. Instead, IcARUS advocates for a proactive stance centred on prevention and collaboration among diverse stakeholders. It emphasises crime prevention and the co-production of security as pivotal aspects of urban security policies. IcARUS strives to enhance cities' capacity to anticipate and respond to urban security challenges, develop innovative tools tailored to local contexts, promote multi-stakeholder collaboration, and place citizens at the forefront of urban security policies.

Harkmo Daniel PARK, Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice (KICJ)
Dr. Jee Young YUN, Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice (KICJ)

AI as a security and prevention issue in South Korea In March 2016, a legendary Go tournament took place in Seoul between the Korean world champion and the artificial intelligence (AI) AlphaGo from Google DeepMind. Contrary to expectations, AlphaGo won the tournament 4:1. This ‘AlphaGo shock’ was a spectacular start for Korean society, whereby it began to look into the state of AI technology and its implications. Today, AI is being used to fight crime, e.g. through intelligent surveillance cameras. Attempts are being made to develop AI-based crime prediction systems. At the same time, the use of AI for criminal purposes is a growing social problem. At a time when AI technology is having an increasingly decisive impact both nationally and internationally, it is a challenge to promote AI technology and at the same time regulate it to prevent misuse. Recently, the ‘EU AI Law’ has been enacted and similar laws are also being discussed in South Korea. This presentation will address issues related to AI and crime prevention. Immigration Control in South Korea in the Post-Corona Era – (this part is for discussion only and will not be presented) Despite the decrease in the number of foreigners staying in the country due to the spread of COVID-19, the number of illegal residents has increased by 20%, raising the issue of an increase in illegal residents. The Ministry of Justice recently announced its strong intention to establish strict stay orders for foreigners, but it is necessary to pursue hard-line and inclusive policies at the same time to resolve the problem of illegal immigrants. The Korean people also support this policy. I would like to introduce the current status of illegal aliens in Korea and countermeasures.

Andreas Arnold, German Police University
Prof. Dr. Andreas Beelmann, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Josephine Gerlach, Agency for Security Research, criminology and criminal policy
Prof. Dr. Thomas Görgen, German Police University
Prof. Dr. Dominic Kudlacek, Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences
Pauline Naujoks, Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Right-wing extremism is one of the greatest challenges facing society. In order to counter such activities as effectively as possible, efforts need to be made by society as a whole. In addition to law enforcement agencies, civil society organizations play a key role. Apart from recording and examining existing cooperation projects, the BMI project CONNECT includes several international conferences on various topics in the context of cooperation as well as systematic interviews with various stakeholders in the prevention of extremism. The panel presents studies and results on cooperation between the police and civil society organizations in preventing and combating right-wing extremist crimes: 1) A. Beelmann (University of Jena): On the state of research in the prevention of radicalization 2) T. Görgen/A. Arnold (German Police University): Cooperation between police and civil society against right-wing extremism in Germany 3) P. Naujoks/A. Beelmann (University of Jena): Implementation factors and problems in the cooperation of police and civil society actors in the prevention of right-wing extremism 4) D. Kudlacek/J. Gerlach (Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences): Dealing with right-wing extremism in Europe - results of a comparative interview study

Prevention Speech 2024

Prof. Dr. Barbara Krahé

Professor of Psychology (ret.)

Outlook and Farewell

Erich Marks

Managing Director of the German Prevention Congress

Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Kerner

Congress President of the German Prevention Congress

Tobias Schick

Lord Mayor of the City of Cottbus/Chóśebuz

Dr. Markus Grünewald

State Secretary of the State of Brandenburg

Frank Pintsch

City of Augsburg

Martin Wilhelm

Chief of Police, Schwaben Nord